Bhubaneswar: A businessman in Bhubaneswar had a shock of his life when he was issued monthly electricity bill of more than Rs 7 crore for his house.
The businessman, Durga Prasad Patnaik, has been living on rent in the house of Ramakant Mishra in an apartment at Niladri Vihar in the city. The house owner had installed a digital meter as per requirement and he used to get the monthly bill according to his electricity consumption.
The Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL), the power distribution company, changed the digital meter to a smart meter recently. He had paid Rs 6,000 towards its installation charges also.
In May, Patnaik received a whopping power bill amounting to Rs 7,90,35,456. The bill was issued in favour of his house address GA 233, Flat 402, Niladri Vihar.
Speaking to Odisha Bytes, Patnaik said, “Since electrical consumption is not much in my house, I used to get bills of Rs 700 – Rs 1500 per month. I used to make the payment online. But I was shocked when I was issued a bill of Rs 7.9 crore for the period from March 26 to May 3.”
However, Patnaik took up the matter with the TPCODL officials. “They admitted that there were some technical mistakes due to shifting from digital to smart meter. The company has issued a revised bill of Rs 4,825 and I will make the payment within the deadline,” he added.
