Off late many residents in Mumbai have been complaining that the B. E. S. & T. Undertaking, which supplies electricity to Mumbai, has been sending inflated or erroneous bills to Commercial as well as Residential users. BEST has been dealing with many unnecessary and incorrect complaints of high bills due to improper advertising of the Revised Electricity Tariffs as well as the ignorance of users.
This article explains how to deal with the legal aspects of a high BEST electricity bill and how to check what is causing the high bill before complaining and how to deal with the authorities to claim a compensation or rectification in the bill.
My BEST Bill is of a very high amount. What could the reasons be?
There are many reasons why you could be getting a high electricity bill. Some of them include:
- Improper or old wiring
- Old appliances, especially with heating elements like Water Geysers, Irons, Electric Stoves etc.
- Theft of Electricity
- Incorrect reading by the BEST
- Faulty meter or Meter display broken
- Mistake by BEST in processing the bill
- Past outstanding bills accumulating
- Revised tariff (Most common cause)
How can I check what the correct reading of my BEST Bill should be?
1. Calculate your Electricity Consumption on the BEST Website:
https://bestundertaking.com/electric/electricity_calculator.asp
The Electricity Calculator will tell you approximately how many units should ideally be reflected on your bill.
Note: This may not be accurate if you have faulty or old equipment. An old fan will consume more units than what has been given as a reference in the electricity calculator.
2. Once you have the number of units consumed, you can check the tariff slab that you fall within.
MERC has permitted a revision in tariff by BEST with effect from 1-Apr-2014. The Revised Tariff for each month can be seen at:
https://bestundertaking.com/electric/fac_rates.asp
You need to check which user category you fall under and then accordingly multiply the number of units with the amount in each heading.
Eg: If you are User Type LT- 2(A) i.e. Commercial and have used 280 units in June 2014 your bill should be as follows:
- Energy Charges = 280 x Rs. 7.45 = Rs. 2086
- Transport Division Loss Recovery Charges = 280 x Rs. 1.48 = Rs. 414.4
- FAC Rate / Fuel Adjustment Rate = 280 x Rs. 1.10 = Rs. 308
3. If you feel that the number of units used is very high, check your bill to compare with the units consumed in the last year same month.
This will give you an idea if your consumption has increased or the tariff has increased.
My bill seems to be incorrect or very high for the current month. I have suddenly got a very high bill of a ridiculous amount. How can I complain?
If after thorough checking you are sure that your bill is incorrect or high, you can follow the steps below:
1. Draft a complaint to the Internal Grievances Redressal Cell or use the draft sample below.
The Address of the office is given on your electricity bill. You can also find the details here: https://bestundertaking.com/pdf/Brihan%20Mumbai%20Electric%20Supply.pdf
Attach copies of the past 2 – 3 bills showing the discrepancy.
4. Check whether the consumption was actually high or the bill was generated based on predicted meter reading.
Many times, like during the pandemic, the BEST authorities did not visit the meter to take the reading. Instead they sent an average bill with the average amount / predicted amount based on past readings. This means that when the actual meter reading is taken, the amount will be adjusted / corrected.
Dear Sir/madam,
Kindly note that my current bill of last three months is almost high. I have been using the appliance the same as the previous months. Last three month it was Rs. 5730/- Rs.5420/- & this month Rs. 2960/- before that we received bill of rupees between Rs.1500 to Rs. 2200/- and i am shocked as how this has happened. I cannot afford such a bill every month. as I am already using minimum electricity. Kindly help
The undersigned would hereby like to bring to your notice the discrepancy in my BEST Electricity Kindly do the needful at the earliest.
Thanking you,
Baburao Dhanu
Hello best there has been problem since 2 days of electricity from 12 Dec 2016 electricity is coming and going as no one is ready to pick call in customer care it’s your responsibility to tell what was problem in area or you will fave some electricity problem and if you don’t want to receive call then why you give customer care number
My current bill is increased very high from the last two months. Two months earlier it was 526 and this month it is 1336 and last it was 1500. This bill is way too high. The undersigned here should take charge of this and this issue should be cleared as many of them are suffering with high electricity bill.
The bill i have received for the month of July 2020 is three times the bill i normally get.
Inspite of July being the month with the least consumption of electricity, i still managed to get a bill of 3500! With no grievance contact number of an email id mentioned on the BEST site, where and how do consumers even raise a complaint. Please ensure my issue is resolved. I will not pay this erroneous amount.
My current bill is increased very high from the last two months. Last two months My (include me) family is native place 30/06/2020 to 07/08/2020 Nobady in the my house How electric bill high at Rs. 2370/- june month and july month Rs. 1793/- and I am shocked as how this has happened.so please check up he corret metore reading and send me correct electricity bill. Consumer no. is 588490022
Last two to three month i am getting 1500 amount bill last from may 2021 i have switch my acount from my mother i have also complaints on online mibest app but there is no result getting