I am Dinesh Aswani, a resident of Evershine City, a reputed Residential Development in Vasai East - Thane neighbourhood of Mumbai. An alarming number of residents including myself have been dismally hard-pressed by a startling level of billing irregularities reflected in our electric bills in the past few months. We are quite apprehensive about illegal connections being provided to certain establishments in the vicinity of our township and also have justified reasons to believe in possible meters tampering of our building’s electrical units.

Please read the below mentioned pointers to understand the extreme agony, utter frustration and wrath that have sunk into our minds due to this.

• Monthly electricity bills reading rupees amount of 5,000, 6,000, 8,000, 10,000, 18000, the highest amounting to Rs. 24,000!!! Considering daily scheduled power cuts ranging between 4 and 8 hrs during summer months, such amounts are atrocious!
Note: I have a two BHK flat and the highest bill that I have received from MSEB is 24000! In spite of several complaints, the MSEB correspondents have been turning a deaf ear!!!
• Most of the residents have been facing unprecedented power thefts from the transformer assigned to our building. We strongly apprehend that power is being illegally used by people living in slums around and a newly established Tiles Factory nearby. As a result of this corrupt act, the transformer is used over its capacity and causes power trips in our building every now and then. And then, following the protocol, we have to call the local office and request their reluctant workers to come and restart the transformer. Having happened innumerable times, this vicious loop has been overly frustrating to go through, time and again!! And furthermore, despite written letters being given to them they don’t care to respond!
• Due to irregular power distribution and faulty metres, some people end up paying more as they are more likely to be paying for other residents as well. A small scale industry could not possibly consume electricity worth rupees 18000 - 24000 of electricity bill each month, leave aside a 2 BHK flat like mine managing that much electricity consumption!
• Ugly corruption clearly visible from a reputed government organization such as MSEB as it would not be an overstatement to write that power theft is being openly and shamelessly encouraged by officials in MSEB.
• To add on, I have also experienced totally unprofessional and discourteous behaviour from MSEB staff.

The recent array of experiences I have gone through in the past few months make me wonder if we should actually boast about being the so called ‘emerging super power’ where basic human values such as listening to someone’s concern or complaint, being proactive in acknowledging and solving the same is never done in a timely manner and where the ‘mantra’ for globalization, the two magic words “customer satisfaction” is not met duly?

But I still have not given up hope. I strongly believe that it takes only ONE to ring the bell and raise the ALARM. I need your help in this Endeavour. I hereby request you to empathize with this issue and offer your gracious support by printing this in your esteemed newspaper. I have full support from my society members who are willing to come on the forefront and be vocal if print media is interested to cover this story.

Electricity theft is increasing in most regions of the world. Thefts of this kind result in reduced income from the sale of electricity and the necessity to charge more to consumers. Electricity theft is closely related to governance indicators, with higher levels of theft in countries like ours, without effective accountability along with political instability, low government effectiveness and high levels of corruption. Electricity theft can be reduced by applying technical solutions such as tamper-proof meters, effective managerial methods such as honest inspection and unbiased monitoring, and in some cases, restructuring power systems ownership and regulation.