A businessman from Beherwin Jattan village in the Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh received an electricity bill of more than Rs. 2 billion (Rs. 200 crore) for December 2024. He was only paying Rs. 2,500 in the previous month. NDTV reported that the bill, issued to Lalit Dhiman, amounted to Rs. 210,42,08,405 crore.
Dhiman, approached the electricity board with his plea, was enlightened by the officials that the whopping bill was caused by a “technical glitch.” The error was corrected and the amount came down to Rs. 4,047, said the report.
In Valsad of Gujarat, a similar case was reported in November 2023. Ansari is a tailor in Chor Gali. A bill was sent to him which asked for Rs. 86.41 lakh for his shop although, in general, it costs Ansari below Rs. 2,000. Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Limited supplies electricity to over 32 lakh consumers, spread in seven districts of southern Gujarat.
Further probe by the agency discovered that the additional two digits added were 1 and 0, and thus, the error in the calculation was the inflated bill. Said Hitesh Patel, who works for a power distribution company, “There was a mistake. The one who took the meter reading added the digits 1 and 0 to the meter reading. We have now given a revised amount.” And the revised amount for Ansari’s shop would be Rs. 1,540.
