Whopping electricity bills send Bollywood stars into high-voltage shock

Gulf Today Report

Bollywood stars may live in their own firmament, in their ivory towers, but even they can come crashing down to earth. The coronavirus lockdown has strained considerably nerves of a lot of people who are confined indoors. But in case you are under the notion that the world of tinsel and glitter has not been affected, think again. Several actors and actresses have been in a state of high-voltage shock after receiving whopping electricity bills.

After Paapsee Pannu alleged that she had received an inflated electricity bill for the month of June, several other celebrities such as Renuka Shahane, Huma Qureshi, Amyra Dastur, Dino Morea, and Kamya Punjabi, have posted on social media to voice similar complaints.

Like Taapsee, Huma complained about an inflated bill for the month of June. "What are these new electricity rates? Last month I paid 6k and this month 50k ????!!! What is this new price surge?? Kindly enlighten us," she wrote.

Taapsee on Sunday had tweeted about receiving a huge amount of bill for electricity usage during the lockdown.

"3 months of lockdown and I wonder what appliance(s) I have newly used or bought in the apartment only last month to have such an insane rise in my electricity bill @Adani_Elec_Mum. What kind of POWER are you charging us for," taapsee had questioned.

Along with it, she attached the pictures of the electricity bills, showing how she was charged Rs 36,000 for the month of June. Whereas, the bill for the month of April was Rs 4,390 and May was Rs 3,850 only.

Dino Morea tweeted: "I was just going to tweet about it. Literally got a shock, pun intended. There was no surge in electricity, just the bill."

Shortly after Taapsee's tweet on Sunday, Renuka Shahane had complained, tweeting: "Dear @Adani_Elec_Mum I got a bill of Rs5510/on the 9th of May while in June I got a bill of Rs 29,700 combining May & June where you've charged me Rs 18080 for the month of May. How did Rs.5510/become Rs.18080."

The issue got highlighted on Sunday when Taapsee Pannu slammed the company for an inflated electricity bill, and also for serving her a bill for a house where no one has been living for a while.

Later on Sunday evening, the company responded to Taapsee's complaint, "We have re-started physical meter reading which was temporarily halted since March because of Covid-19. Bills were generated on the lower side, being an average of preceding three months as that is, December, January and February, which are winter months. Actual consumption in the months of April, May and June is comparatively higher due to seasonal impact (summer) and increased usage advent of Lockdown,” said a spokesperson of Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML).

The spokesperson had added: "The bill amount for the past period shall be accounted as per Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) guidelines. The consumers will start receiving the bills based on their actual consumption with appropriate tariff slab benefits."