CESC's high-voltage bill shock triggers consumer outrage against Kolkata's Sanjiv Goenka group power utility

A large number of CESC consumers from Kolkata metropolitan area and its adjacent parts of Howrah, Hooghly, North and South Parganas districts have complained of receiving inflated and erroneous electricity bills which has only aggravated their lockdown crisis and financial woes.

Hundreds of consumers were seen staging demonstrations with the copies of the 'exorbitant' energy bills in front of several CESC offices and bill collection centres in Kolkata as well as in other districts.

Electricity in the capital city of West Bengal and its adjoining urban areas of Howrah is provided by Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC), a flagship company of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which is engaged in the generation and distribution of electricity across approximately 570 sq km area.

Atul Sarkar, a CESC customer, who was protesting in front of a CESC facility in Kolkata's Behala against the alleged huge electricity charges, said, "I used to get bills of Rs. 4000-5000 during the summer, and days ago when I received electricity bill of June month from CESC, I was just shocked- they sent me a bill of Rs. 17000 which is impossible."

The 65-year-old man also alleged that CESC had refused to review his energy bill and asked him to pay the bill in EMIs instead.

"How can I pay such a large bill amid such a tough situation, and to demand an explanation of my bill, I have to come out of my house to meet CESC officers here, even after knowing that I'm vulnerable at this age to Covid-19," he added.

Hundreds of other consumers present there had the same grievance and anger.

IBNS accessed some of such 'exorbitant' energy bills, and it was noticed that consumers have been asked to pay amounts which are three, four and, in some cases, 10 times or more than the average summer-time domestic electricity bills.        

One Md Lal Babu, a resident of north Kolkata's Narkeldanga area, has received a bill from CESC where he has been asked to pay Rs. 1,02,890 for his domestic usage.

The number of allegations of such excessive energy electricity bills IBNS came across is countless.

Another CESC consumer from Kolkata, Manash Halder, took the matter to Facebook and posted pictures of his electricity bill and his domestic meter to show a massive discrepancy between the original meter reading and the reading mentioned by the CESC based on which his huge power bill was generated.

According to the evidences he posted on social media, CESC has sent him a bill of Rs. 1,08,310 which was calculated based on his latest meter reading- 23638 units- which has been mentioned in the bill, while the picture of his meter is showing that he has consumed only 13833 units so far.

It has been also spotted in his bill that CESC had mentioned the present meter reading though it did not mention the previous meter reading, from where the actual consumption is calculated by subtraction.

This thing has left the matter unclear and suspicious while transparency in calculating the bills is also being questioned. 

Not only general people, the list of such complainants also includes state ministers, influential political leaders and celebrities.  

West Bengal Power Minister, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, reported that he had received a bill of Rs. 11000 for the month of June.

"I usually pay Rs. 7000 as electricity charges every month and I have been charged Rs. 11000 for the last month which is an abnormal bill," Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said.

"I have already contacted CESC authority. Amid this tough situation, when a large number of people have been suffering from financial crisis following lockdown, how can people pay such abnormal bills," the minister added.

Alleging the same, former Mayor-in-Council (Health) and present member of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC)'s Board of Administrators, Atin Ghosh, said, "I have received a bill of Rs. 7800 this month when my residence's average monthly bill is around 3500 rupees."

"CESC officials are giving us a strange and hard-to-believe explanation, they are claiming that their regulatory agency fixes the tariff based on which the bills are calculated," Ghosh said. "I told them to stop making people fool by saying all these."

Days ago, actor Tota Roy Choudhury made an allegation of receiving a huge and impossible amount of energy bill from CESC.

Political protests begin:

Protesting the matter, Indian National Congress' labours' wing, Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) staged a demonstration in central Kolkata's Taltala area and burned a set of CESC electricity bills.

Other opponent parties, including Lefts and BJP, also raised their voices against this and threatened to take to the streets if CESC does not review such excessive billing immediately.

Not only political parties, city's mass organizations have also asked the people of the metropolitan to unitedly protest against the CESC monopoly in greater Kolkata.

Theatre personality Debesh Chattopadhyay has asked the CESC bill-victims to gather in front of CESC headquarters, Victoria House, at the city's downtown Esplanade area on July 20 at 4 pm. to hold a protest jointly.

Another side of the coin:

Meanwhile, very few customers claimed that CESC had asked them not to pay any amount for the month of June as the company had already collected extra amount by provisional billing during the lockdown.

A CESC consumer from Hooghly's Uttarpara said, "On Friday (July 17), I received an email from CESC where I have been asked not to pay any bill for last month as I have already paid an extra amount during lockdown which is being adjusted."

However, the list of such consumers is very short.

CESC responds:

When social media platforms are being flooded with allegations, pictures of bills, and memes against the CESC, officials of the privately-run power supply corporation claimed that they were not overcharging their customers.

"During lockdown, we could not carry out physical meter reading and after conducting this in June, we calculated the bills, adjusting last two months' consumptions, and those bills were prepared including the slab benefits as well," Vice President (Distribution) of CESC, Abhijit Ghosh, said.

"I can assure our customers that we are not overcharging. We have examined multiple such bills and explained all of those properly," he added.

The CESC, which months ago faced a heavy backlash for failing to restore supplies within promised time after cyclone Amphan devastated West Bengal, also made a Facebook post in an attempt to explain the reason behind such huge billings--

Meanwhile, posting a video on social media platforms, CESC's Managing Director (Distribution) Debasish Banerjee claimed, "We are not overcharging our customers. For the last two months we billed them less than their consumption during Covid lockdown period and this month we billed our consumers for their actual use and the unbilled amount of the last two months."

Meanwhile, there have been reports that multiple PILs are likely to be filed against the CESC billing before the Calcutta High Court today (Saturday-July 18) or next week.

Kolkata Police worried about gathering, protest amid pandemic:

Officials of the Kolkata Police said that they were very much worried as a large number of people are gathering to protest against an important issue, flouting social distancing norms, at a time when West Bengal is registering over 1800 new infections every day.

"We are repeatedly requesting people to maintain social distancing and not to gather at a large number to hold agitation during a very crucial stage," a city police officer said.