90-yr-old Karnataka woman with two bulbs, one fan at home gets one lakh electricity bill

HUBBALLI:  Eighty-year-old Girijamma of Bhagya Nagar in Koppal received a rude shock after seeing her power bill of Rs 1 lakh for May. Girijamma lives with her son in a two-room house, which has only two bulbs and a fan. 

The house comes under the Bhagya Jyothi free electricity scheme and technical error is said to be the reason for Girijamma receiving such a huge bill. There have been several cases of people receiving excess power bills in various parts of the state. While the ruling and opposition parties are blaming each other for this, people are confused about whether to pay their power bills or not. 

“Seeing the bill, we thought we were reading it wrong. But after going through it properly, we came to know that Girijamma has been billed Rs 1,03,315 for two months’ power consumption. After a photo of the bill went viral, Gescom officials rushed to Girijamma’s house to rectify the matter,” said a resident of Bhagya Nagar.

The officials told Girijamma that she need not pay the bill. “It was a technical error. We will take action against the technical team for this error. We met Girijamma and explained to her about the error. She need not pay even Re 1 as her house comes under the Bhagya Jyothi scheme,” said a Gescom official.
Last month, residents of Koppal protested against Gescom after they received huge electricity bills.