Bangaloreans please help

Electricity charged till 08.01.2010 till 22.7.10
for a 2 bed room Flat (not occupied) in Mysore!

Electricity charge Mysore 08.1.10 535.00
Electricity charge Mysore 22.2.10 1817.00
Electricity charge Mysore 22.3.10 1603.00
Electricity charge Mysore 22.4.10 1450.00
Electricity charge Mysore 22.5.10 1301.00
Electricity charge Mysore 22.6.10 1245.00
Electricity charge Mysore 22.7.10 1071.00
Total cost paid for 7 months: Rs.9022.00

This bill is for a 2 bed room apartment in Mysore which seems
abnormal. The flat is not occupied. Every month, a boy cleans
the room for 2 times. At that time he only uses vaccum cleaning
and the a/c is switched on for a few minutes to keep them tact.

As per my online caculation the units consumed is well below
30 (for the two days in a month) and hence the high billing cost not justified.

How are the average bill in Bangalore for a 2 bed room apartment
let us say with fridge, 1.5 ton A/c (2) in use.
Thanks for throwing some lights into this.

you either have a faulty meter or someone wired the meter wrong in your flat. Your usage should be at the 175-250, assuming the minimum charge is at Rs 150.

Thanks Digital Drifter. This is what I thought so. I have already
logged in a complaint independently with the CSCE power supply
organisation and they are sending persons to the flat for inspection.

The developer who have been handling the billing is not been
answered so far inspite of my request on the 02.08.10.

By the way, if the meter is faulty, is there a way the funds which I have overpaid could be compensated against the future bills?

Dear Bangaloreans,

Did anyone experience this sort of mess up with a reputed developer?
I mean we have bought the flat because of the reputation of the developer
who is a very leading developer in Bangalore and Mysore. I do not want to
name them now till the matter is clarified and justified. But it is up to the flat manager and electrical engineer to bring this attention as we are already paying approximately Rs. 27,000.-- as maintenance fee per annum. Apart from that, this sort of mess up. Don't intervene means you keep on paying as an idot!!!The lesson wich we learn from this is you cannot trust anyone when you trust them as a customer becasue of their public reputation.

Unlikely, service credits are rare with with EB. What you really need to do, is to get it certified that that meter is faulty (as in a letter ack. that from the EB) and then start disputing each bill with a photocopy of the letter. till the meter is rectified. which takes a couple of years...maybe?

Get the name of the Engineer in your zone and pester him to send a technician to check out the meter. And harass them back.

And as for the promoter et al, if you owe them money still, start disputing it. Possession certificate and all that jazz; see whether you can raise a small claims case, they'd need to turn up in person.

Hey first read the meter see how many units are being consumed each month, by checking the bill for no. of units consumed! Ask the boy to switch off the mains after cleaning. Maybe some hanky panky is going on behind your back!

In the meantime I have already logged in an online complaint to
CSCE, the two Chief Engineers responded. Let's see the outcome.
To me CSCE seems to be very responsive and serious as they have
informed me that they are sending person to the flat location.

I have paid almost 47 lakhs for a 2 bed room apartment. It is very well within the responsibility of the developer to do a final check of installations whatsoever. If they have failed to notice this kind of mistake, then they are
responsible for it. I would rather deduct such exhorbitant
fee charges against their annual maintenance bill due to come.

Justdeep,
I will not be surprised if some hanky panky is behind our back as we live in Switzerland and only shown up for 2 weeks in India. But it is not the issue. The issue is to trust the developer and its local employees servicing the customers.

I have already mentioned the boy to
a) maintain his own log book of entering the flat with date and
exact time.
b) There is no individual meter within the apartment as we live
in big blocks. In that case I go for an individual meter
installed inside my flat

c) Switching off the mains a good idea from you

Maybe your flat is being used by someone else! If the meter is installed inside the flat then you'll have to be present when the meter reader comes there to read it.

Given the reputed name of the developer, I do not think they can
afford that their employees do that. No I do not think so. But
who knows-everything is possible nowadays. The trust is good but
control is better.

-Either there is a faulty meter
-Incorrect connection/wiring
-Wrong billing allocation deliberately by the employee(s)
which I don't think very smart from their side if they
think that no one will find out!

If things not sorted out, I would rather go direct to the MD;
the developers corporate office in Bangaluru

Hey Seeja!
Maybe you should consider renting out your house instead of keeping it vacant 50 weeks a year, that could easily pay for your travel expences and stay in India, but find a very good tenant and take post dated cheques. If not aleast give a room or 2 to paying guests ! Well if you don't want to , arrange for a trusted local person to take care of things for you!
Good luck!

ack. good point. Then there are more subterfuges to check for.

Why don't you ask the neighbours whether they saw anyone coming ot the apt? or the security guard or the association secretary. Keep pestering different people and if the bill drops the next month,

Justdeep would be right.

Thank you all for your points which does make sense to me.

Most probably as it happens, your queries will just go back and forth..... best is to send a letter to the builder stating the problem and that you will be filing a police report just to make yourself safe in case some wrongdoing is going on at your home. This will make them reply immediately and rectify the problem.

Thanks for your advice and its being noted. Will give them a couple days for action and upon no outcome will proceed further as you have suggested. Cheers