Gujarat: Surat diamond broker gets Rs 2.79 lakh power bill for 256 units; DGVCL acknowledges mistake

Jigneshkumar Kufani, a resident of Deepa Complex, Adajan Patiya, Surat said that the bill which should have been only for 256 units had been hiked to 30291 units leaving him shell-shocked.

Surat: In a shocking case of negligence by the Gujarat Power Department, a Surat-based diamond broker has been sent a bill worth over Rs 2.79 lakh for merely consuming 256 units of electricity, he said. The department while acknowledging the technical glitch, is issuing a rectified bill. Jigneshkumar Kufani, a resident of Deepa Complex, Adajan Patiya, Surat, is working as a diamond broker.

Jignesh said he was shocked when the Power Department sent him the power bill 2,79,648 worth Rs for the outgoing month. Jignesh said that the bill which should have been only for 256 units had been hiked to 30291 units leaving him shell-shocked. Jignesh said that worried over the due date of the bill, he was planning to borrow money from his friend to pay the electricity bill.

However, after verifying with the department, it surfaced that the bill had been erroneously generated owing to a technical snag. Jignesh said that the department acknowledged the mistake and reconciled the bill after which the rectified bill was issued to him. “I got worried and asked my friend to borrow me two Rs 2 lakh to pay the electricity bill.

But later it came to the fore that it was due to the department's own mistake,” Jignesh said. The concerned Electricity Officer attributed the incident to a technical snag adding they are investigating the matter. Pertinently, the the power distribution in Gujarat is the domain of the Dakshin Gujrat Vij Company Limited (DGVCL).

The DGVCL looks after the distribution of power in the Southern Distribution Zone of the erstwhile Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB).