TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Water consumers are passing sleepless nights as profusely inflated bills are giving them nightmares of late. Though traditionally, inflated water bills resulted from faulty metres, water leakages or wastage of water, inability of metre readers to read the digits properly is giving consumers bills which are inflated tenfold and consumers have been asked to pay Rs 8000 instead of Rs 800.
Complaints of excess billing have been a regular feature in the state as water bills sometimes are outrageously high. There has been an instance where a local consumer who has a uses well water being given a bill of Rs 35,000. To the credit of the department, it has taken cognizance of complaints and sends its personnel to check the meters and then rectify the errors if needed.
However there is are hitches ~ firstly the real reason why most who have five digit meters get inflated bill is that meter readers do not know how to do meter reading. Also, people are generally asked to pay some 75% of the bill amount and then rectification is done and this could be difficult for some.
Herald has photographs and bills showing how the meter readers have misread the meters and inflated bills by about ten times by sending a bill of Rs 8000 plus when the actual bill should have been only Rs 800.
The bill reader instead of reading the last revolving number as a part unit made it into a full unit converting a reading of 142. 8 to 1428 and effectively sending a shiver down the spine of the concerned water consumer.
According to the meter readers they have been instructed to read all five numbers of the meters and this is one of the prime reasons why people with five digit meters are getting highly inflated bills.
An inquiry revealed that there were two categories of meters – one set with five digits and the others with 6 digits.
And obviously meter readers were taught on a 6 number meter or whatever.
Complaints have been made, acknowledged; but till date consumers are upset that no action is being taken and water consumers are still getting inflated bills due to human error.
