‘Bill shock’ looms over 41,000 power consumers, courtesy slow server

Around 41,000 power consumers will have to pay bills of two months at increased rates. Reason: They were not able to make payment as LESA could not generate bills due to slow server.

These consumers belong to Daliganj, parts of Sitapur road, Munshipulia, Rahim Nagar, New Campus of University Sitapur road, Chowk, Balaganj, Residency, Chinhat and Rae Bareli road.

Ram Dayal, a resident of Chinhat, said around 5,000 residents in the area did not receive bills. LESA authorities said, “We have tasked billing work to a new agency. The new meter readers have little knowledge about the area and have failed to each every household. They would definitely reach citizens this month and the bill cycle would be back on track.”

However, this delay in billing would come as a blow for the residents because power unit rates start varying after a certain consumption.

The rate for the first 150 units of power consumed is Rs 4.40, from 151 to 300 units it goes up to Rs 4.95, from 301 units to 500 units it further rises to Rs 5.50 per unit and in the above 500 unit category the charges are Rs 6.20 per unit.

Someone paying for around 300 units of power will have to pay for more than 600 units this time as the bill generated would be of two months. For example, consumers will have to pay at Rs 6.20 per unit instead of paying at Rs 5.50 per unit.

LESA GM Ashutosh Kumar Srivastava said the company responsible for slow server had been told to update it so that such glitches don’t affect bill collection and generation. While new agencies given the work of bill generation and distribution have been asked to speed up their work and make sure that no household was left out of billing cycle.