90-year-old Karnataka woman living in hut gets Rs 1 lakh electricity bill

When a 90-year-old woman in Bhagya Nagar in Koppal received an electricity bill of more than Rs 1 lakh, she was in complete disbelief. Girijamma received an electricity bill of Rs 1,03,315 for the month of May, despite the fact that her shanty only contains a few LED bulbs. The elderly received an electricity connection under Karnataka’s Bhagya Jyoti Scheme, which aims to provide power at a minimum price to people below the poverty line in slums.

The nonagenarian, who lives with her son in a small hut, said she used to get a monthly electricity bill of Rs 70 or 80 and was shocked when she received the bill of Rs 1.03 lakh from Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company Limited (GESCOM), reported The Indian Express.

After the incident, GESCOM representatives rushed to her house and checked the metre. According to executive engineer Rajesh, the woman’s excessive electricity bill was due to a mistake with the metre reading since 2021. Later, he told the woman that she does not need to pay the bill and assured her that it would be revised.

“We have given power connection to the house under the Bhagya Jyoti scheme. We will give a revised bill after rectifying the problem in the meter. She got an excess bill due to an error by the bill collector and other staff. Action will be initiated against the erring staff members,” Deccan Herald quoted GESCOM Executive Engineer Rajesh as saying.

However, this is not the first time that the sky-high electricity bill for a particular month has shocked someone in Karnataka. Sadashiva Acharya, an Ullal-based house owner and his wife were shell-shocked when they received a Rs 7,71,072 bill from the Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (MESCOM), earlier this month. The authority later acknowledged “the error” on their part and revised the bill to Rs 2,833. The couple normally used to get an electricity bill of around Rs 3,000.

In light of the abnormal electricity hike by the power supply companies, the Hubballi-based Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) called for a state-wide ‘business bandh’ on Thursday. After asking the government to step in and reverse the electricity tariff increase in seven days, the KCCI issued a call for a bandh of commercial enterprises, including shops and industries.

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