West Bengal Power Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay expresses concern over CESC's 'over billing'
Kolkata/UNI: West Bengal Power Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay has expressed serious concern after large section of the consumers in Kolkata and Howrah claimed that they were 'excessively charged' for power consumption by privately run Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC).
"I have been facing the ire of the CESC consumers as scores of people come to my place daily with complaints of over billings for which I am not responsible," Chatterjee said, who has also admitted he was also facing the same fate and asked the CESC to review it.
The Minister said he received a Rs. 12000 bill this month while he generally pays Rs. 3000 to Rs. 4000 for electric consumption every month inh is house.
"Normally i get a bill of Rs 3,000 to 4,000 every month but this time i got a bill of Rs 12,000," the power minister told the reporters.
The power minister said for him he was okayed with the extra billing as he asked the CESC to review it.
One of the city consumers alleged that he got a bill of Rs 1,84,000 (one lakh eighty four thousand) bill dated July, 2020, consumed for the month of May, 2020.
The RP Sanjiv Goenka Group owned CESC Ltd has around 2.9 million consumers within an area of 567sq km of Kolkata and Howrah, which include domestic, industrial and commercial users.
CESC also own and operate three thermal power plants generating 1125 MW of power.
"Why should I face the ire of the consumers of the CESC. The company should come into the open to clarify the matter by giving advertisement to explain it," said the power minister.
Not a single consumer was spared from having excess billing for July and due to lockdown and containment zones following coronavirus the suffering people increased as they could not lodge formal complaints with the CESC.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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