Inflated bills: DERC to probe role of software
Richi Verma, TNN 14 September 2009

NEW DELHI: There's a new twist in the ongoing inflated electricity bills saga. Power regulator DERC is now investigating whether the high bills for
July/August could have been the fallout of a new software being used by Reliance discoms.

Highly placed sources said the BSES discoms were earlier using a standalone software, but from the July-August billing season, they migrated to a new system wherein all operations, including billings, were being done through SAP. The regulator is now questioning the efficacy of the complex software. BSES officials, meanwhile, denied they were using any new software for billing.

"They have migrated to SAP recently and since then, they have been facing this problem. This software has to be audited immediately as people are getting very agitated with as much as 400% increase in bills. IT companies have been called in to check this software. NDPL will also be migrating to this new software in the next two or three months,'' said a senior official.

Meanwhile, DERC has come to the rescue of all consumers who have received inflated bills. "We have written to BSES that they have to extend the time limit for making payments for July/August bills in cases where consumption is more than 50% of the corresponding period last year, till the issue is completely resolved. Also, no late payment charges are to be levied. This has to be intimated to all those affected consumers,'' said A K Tewary, secretary, DERC.

The regulator is clearly turning the heat on the Reliance-backed discoms. "So many people cannot be wrong. The problem has to be with the software. A number of consumers say reading on the bills is the same as the meter. The number of units is the same but the amount is much higher. It is not possible that so many meters could have been manipulated so it is the software that needs to be examined,'' said an official. According to sources, one technical firm which was asked to look into the software backed out due to a `clash of interest' as it was working for another Reliance company. The National Informatic Centre has now been roped in to check this new billing software.

DERC has also constituted a special cell where a representative each of BSES Yamuna and BSES Rajdhani have been deputed to DERC headquarters in Malviya Nagar. "A number of consumers have been approaching the commission saying BSES is not paying heed to their billing complaints. This special cell has been created for that purpose and billing related grievances will be facilitated here. Anybody who has a complaint can seek clarifications from the special cell. We have also told discoms to train staff to deal with consumers in a more professional manner,'' said a DERC official.