During the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Mumbai is by far the worst-hit city in India. Since March, Mumbai has been in lockdown and majority of the people working in the private sector, are working from home for nearly four months now. Since the last month, many citizens had been complaining of getting exorbitant electricity bills and many took to their social media to complain about the same. Several celebrities including Taapsee Pannu and Arshad Warsi were also left shocked after the exorbitant electricity bills they received.
3 months of lockdown and I wonder what appliance(s) I have newly used or bought in the apartment only last month to have such an insane rise in my electricity bill. @Adani_Elec_Mum what kind of POWER r u charging us for? pic.twitter.com/jZMMoxDMgj
— taapsee pannu (@taapsee) June 28, 2020
The claims of cheating the consumers were dismissed by private as well as the state-run electrical companies. Following this, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray stepped in to review the situation. The CM's Office took to Twitter to say that it had directed power companies to transparently resolve all complaints.
Taking stock of the rising number of consumer complaints related to exorbitant electricity bills, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has directed power companies to show transparency in its billing procedures and redress the consumer complaints immediately.
— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) June 30, 2020
Now, as per media reports, consumer activists have come forward with a demand to reduce the electricity duty from 16 per cent to 5 per cent for the residential consumers in Mumbai. They have stated that while the electricity duty for industries has seen a drop from 9.3 per cent to 7.5 per cent, the consumers still pay a heavy duty of 16 per cent. It has been reported in the media that the consumer activists met the State Energy Minister Nitin Raut to put forward their demands. The activists have said in a statement that the government needs to reduce the duty at least till the time the lockdown has been imposed.
The activists further stated that the pandemic has affected the economy and there is almost double the rate of unemployment in the country. Reduction of electricity duty might prove to be beneficial for the consumers in the city. It has also been reported in the media that Advocate Godfrey Pimenta has organised a protest in the city on August 15 against the hike in electricity bills.
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