I got a speedy service from the electric supply
Did you ever receive a very high electric bill?
I overlooked the exact amount when I received the electric bill for the July-Sept 2022 quarter. It appeared as about INR 3500. I thought it was okay to pay it later before the due date.
When I actually tried to make the payment on the web portal of the state electric supply, I was surprised to discover that the exact bill amount was INR 35000 plus. It is unbelievable. It can never be so high!
Our annual electricity consumption is never that high. So, I decided to complain. I visited the local electric supply office and handed a handwritten application.
I lodged a handwritten complaint at the electric supply office.
I went to the local electric supply office the day before yesterday. The officer in charge, i.e., the Station Manager of the local electric supply office, was a young lady. I could knock at the door and get permission to enter for a conversation.
I handed over my application for a complaint about an erroneous electric bill. She patiently listened and started inspecting the case on the computer. She agreed that the number of meter units (which was 4000+ units) was staggeringly high.
The station manager advised me to submit the complaint application in the receiving section and take a receipt. She said she would come with the technical staff to check the electrical energy meter the next day. Before that, she verified if I could be at home the next day.
I submitted the handwritten complaint to the receiving section of the electric supply office and took a stamped and signed complaint submission number on a photocopy of the complaint.
Today afternoon, the officer came with three technical staff to check the electrical energy meter.
Today afternoon, I received a phone call from an unknown number around 3:30 PM. When I received it, somebody spoke, "We are from the electric supply office. Please give the direction on how to come to your house. We will check your meter."
Within about fifteen minutes, the person again phoned and reconfirmed the exact location of our apartment building. I was standing on the balcony of our third-floor flat. I saw two people waving hands. I also waved, and almost shouted, "Are you from the electric supply?"
I got down and opened the main gate. Four persons entered. One was having a laptop in one hand. They found a shoe rack near the door of the ground floor flat. They kept the laptop computer on the shoe rack and started to download the electronic meter data from our electrical energy meter.
The software couldn't download any meter data, but they are knowledgeable and expert in checking errors.
The electrical energy meter was a 2010 model, and the recent software couldn't download the meter data! This is a ploy the electronic gadget companies often do. They stop supporting older models, and force the clients to buy new devices!
The technical staff members were skilled in serving such problems. So, they physically inspected the meter unit data and tallied it with the electric bill data.
They discovered that the meter reading staff made a mistake while capturing the meter reading. Instead of capturing the consumed meter unit reading, the meter reading staff captured the consumed kWh (kilowatt hour) data.
Incidentally, the number of kWh is large and doesn't correlate with the earlier meter unit reading. And, incidentally, it resulted in a large number of meter unit readings, which is not a meter unit reading.
The visiting station manager and her technical staff members could find the sources of error and noted down the actual meter unit reading to date (which is aapprosimately 800 units). They will manually generate a bill up to today, and deliver it to me within a couple of weeks.
Why would it take two weeks? Because it has to be approved manually by a senior officer in the divisional office.
I am super satisfied with the service of the electric supply.
The lady officer and her associate technical staff members solved the issue by finding out the sources of errors in the meter readings.
They recorded the meter reading to date and promised a corrected electric bill within a couple of weeks.
I am very satisfied with the service of the local electric supply office.
In India, getting services from a government-owned office is not easy. At least, my earlier experiences confirm it. But, today's experience has changed my views.
The services solely depend on the dedication, honesty, skills, and willingness of the officers and the service staff members to serve the people.
The government's facility and policy have a small role to play. Of course, if the government gives better facilities, the services can be much improved.
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Aug 05, 2022
Getting service from government owned offices is worse in my country, there is negligence every way. A lot of incompetent civil servants.
But cases such as yours brings hope that things might be better