Bhadra/Gogamedi/Jodhpur, Rajasthan: Electricity consumption in rural Rajasthan, falling under the jurisdiction of the Jodhpur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (JdVVNL), has increased exceptionally. According to recent electricity bills of ordinary houses in Gogamedi and other connecting villages of Bhadra, where there is hardly any usage of high consumption electrical appliances like air-conditioners or washing-machines, the tribal people are now using about 3,000 kilowatts, up from the previous consumption of approximately 150 kilowatts.
When Indraj Nath, a tribal residing in Gogamedi’s Nath Basti received a bi-monthly electricity bill of Rs 91,000 against the consumption of 11,983 kilowatts, it became the talk of the town.
To get his bill rectified, Nath had to make a request at several offices of the Jodhpur discom. A year later, the department finally replaced his meter, without his consent, to settle the matter. However, Nath objected to this stealthy measure.
When the officer asked him why he was creating a fuss over a slight error in the system which the department is ready to rectify, Nath replied, “It’s not just about rectification. If I’ll let you get off so easily, you would confidently repeat it with others.”
What Nath had feared, is a stark reality now.
Indraj’s bill worth Rs 91,135 against a consumption of 11,983 units. Photo: Shruti Jain
Ram Kumar Nath, another tribal living in the same Nath Basti received an electricity bill of Rs 11,066 in October this year for a consumption of 760 kilowatts. This bill also included an arrear of Rs 5,303 which he had not intentionally deposited in the August cycle.
“In April this year, the bill showed a consumption of 1,174 kilowatts and charged me about Rs 8,000. That time, I couldn’t make out that there could be an issue with the bill itself and deposited the amount but when I realised that there has been no variation in our living standard, still the consumption is increasing every month, I decided not to comply with the discom,” Nath told The Wire.
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Nath has been now issued a notice by Jodhpur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (JdVVNL) to deposit the accruing arrears within 7 days, else electrical service at his residence would be suspended.
A few months ago, a message from an official of the Jodhpur discom was leaked in Dainik Bhaskar, where he was caught lauding his line men for recording meter readings that were higher than the actual readings. “Just as you have brought these [higher] readings, keep on doing this. This will help us show less transmission losses,” the leaked message read.
After the news, the Jodhpur discom gave assurances that strict action would be taken against the culprits. However, soon the matter faded away from public memory. While it is still a matter of investigation whether such activities, as revealed in the leaked message, are in place, a susceptible pattern could also be noticed in the meter readings.
Sant Kumar stands with his electricity bill. Photo: Shruti Jain
For instance, Sant Kumar from Ramgarh was charged for consumption of 4,463 kilowatts in August 2018. This year again, in August, his electricity consumption, as reflected in his bill, was 4,464 kilowatts.
Last year, Kumar deposited the bill but this time he joined other residents in the village to protest against such unchecked bills. In October this year, aggrieved consumers gathered at the Hisar bus stop in Bhadra and carried out a “warning rally” around the city before finally serving their demands to the sub-divisional magistrate against the staggering high electricity bills.
Sant Kumar’s bill showing consumption of 4463 units in August 2018 and 4464 in August 2019. Photo: Shruti Jain
As per the former officials at the Jodhpur discom, there are adequate ways in the system to take note of substantial variations in the bills. “Wherever there is more than 15% variation in the billing [cost or consumption], then an exception slip is generated by the system and with that, the concerned officer has an option to take note of the variations. It’s strange that such exceptional variations in the bills went unnoticed,” B.C. Mathur, a retired official in the department in Jodhpur told The Wire.
Another possibility that can be put out regarding the sudden rise in consumption, is the accumulated reading. “It might be possible that the meter readers didn’t go to the site for years and when it went, after a long stretch, the meter reading reflected the accumulated reading,” DM Chirania, another retired official, told The Wire.
However, if one is to believe that the readings are accumulated, then even the consumption in the previous months, as mentioned in the bill, is undisputed, keeping in mind the rural setting.
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Since electricity consumption has now increased as per the bills dispatched, consumers are also handed a notice to deposit security fees worth the amount equivalent to their monthly bills.
Jodhpur discom issuing notice to deposit security fees. Photo: Shruti Jain
A series of irregularities
Electricity bills showing high consumption are not the only irregularities to have come out. Quite unusually, the energy audit report of JdVVNL, shared on its official website reveals that the discom is billing consumers for energy higher than what is actually being supplied.
The energy audit report of the 11 kV feeder shows the transmission and distribution (T&D) and aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses at several sub-stations in Jodhpur as negative, which means, lesser units of energy are delivered and higher units of energy are billed for respective sub-stations.
When asked about such discrepancy in the audit report, Avinash Singhvi, managing director of JdVVNL told The Wire, “Losses can’t be in negative but this is happening because there is no proper mechanism to scrutinise each feeder. We are working to rectify the issue.”
Furthermore, the energy sales data disclosed by the discom is also inconsistent.
The total actual energy sales in the financial year 2017-18, disclosed by JdVVNL in the true-up petition is 18,639.40 Million Unit (MU) including the 696.85 MU sold to its franchisee. However, in the 2017-18 director’s annual report, the energy sold to the franchisee stands at 645.297 MU and in the annual accounts data, the same (energy sold to the franchisee) is mentioned as 733.79 MU.
Consumers protesting against high electricity bills at the Hisar bus stop in Bhadra. Photo: Shruti Jain
The matter related to three different variations of data of energy sales to the franchise, as disclosed in the official data of the discom, was raised before the Rajasthan electricity regulatory commission. However, no substantive action was taken.
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Rajasthan Urja Vikas Nigam (RUVN), on behalf of the discoms in Rajasthan, purchases power from various sources and makes payment to the respective generating companies. Now, as per data disclosed in the true-up petitions of RUVN and other discoms – Jodhpur (JdVVNL), Jaipur (JVVNL) and Ajmer (AVVNL) – the total units of the energy sent out by RUVN at certain power stations and the same being further sent out by the three discoms doesn’t converge.
For instance, as per data disclosed in the true-up petition, the total units of energy sent out by RUVN for the Kota thermal power station (KTPS) was 6413.97 MU, however, the three discoms – Jodhpur (JdVVNL), Jaipur (JVVNL) and Ajmer (AVVNL) – sent out only a total of 6406.04 MU from this power station, leaving 7.93 MU of energy unaccounted.
Similarly, in other generating stations, there is no account of approximately 13 MU energy. It is not known whether the payment made by RUVN was for the excess power and if so, why the discoms have not been made liable for the unaccounted energy.
