Gujarat Confidential: Human Error

An inflated electricity bill of Rs 9.24 lakh issued by the Madhya Gujarat Vij Corporation Limited (MGVCL) in Vadodara to a consumer is one of the cases that has surfaced amid ongoing protests against smart meters. The discom promptly clarified that the bill was generated on the smart meter app due to a “human error” in data entry of the consumer’s old meter reading. MGVCL MD Tejas Parmar said, “We have rectified the figure in the system. The MGVCL, in fact, calculated that the consumer was liable to receive Rs 1,073 as part of the balance adjustments after installation of the smart meters. Such human errors do occur and we always resolve them. It has nothing to do with smart meters.” The MGVCL on Wednesday also faced a protest by a group of residents in Dandia Bazaar area of Vadodara. Slogans were chanted against the discom, which is yet to reconnect the power supply of 50 commercial occupants of a building following a fire in the meter room on May 17.