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.