My parents live in Lucknow. Owing to oldage & illness, they went away on Dec7th 2012 to stay with their son in Kolkata. I(their daughter ) was in Gurgaon during that time. My parents returned hom eon 28th Feb 2013. Since no one was home, the main switch was turned off and there was no metered unit registered. We started receiving Non Reading( NR) bill from the month of Jan 2013.When we submitted the bill for the month of Mar 2013, we were still charged for NR units( which is 61 as per UPPCL). I submitted my first application regarding this issue to the SDO( Er. Verma), Rajni Khand, Lucknow( U.P) on 11th Apr 2013. He listened to the issue and said that the there was a transfer of division in progress and the problem would be addressed soon. He referred me to meet Jr. Engineer Mr Yogesh & provided his phone no. as well. Since he was not in office that day, so I called him up and he appointed Mr S. K Singh from the same department to look into the matter. Mr Singh. informed me that he would be visting me the same evening to check the meter is functional or not. He did come over wrote down the actual meter reading of 16550 units that evening and informed that we will receive a call from the JE regarding the same. We received a call from Mr Yogesh, following morning and were told that the matter had been resolved. Next month when the person, came for generating the bill, the same metered unit as taken down by Mr S.K Singh were reflected in the bill, but we were still billed for NR( 61 units) only. I called up Mr Yogesh many times post that, and he always told that it would be taken care of. But its been six months now and we are still being billed NR units. No one in the department has informed us till date, what actually is the problem and what is the solution for the same. The UPPCL website does not provide any informtaion about the FAQ’s on what needs to be done if the house is vacant for few months. There is no information about the minimum time period post which the NR bill is generated. In the span of last 2 months I have submitted 2 applications regarding the same issue and have met Mr Yogesh only twice. Though I kept in touch with him through phone. But he always said that it would be done and I shouldn`t worry. On May 30th i submitted the application again. Since the meter was functional so I was informed again that the reading would be updated and the issue would be taken care of. But it did not happen. I met him again few days later and was referred to meet Mr Kamal. He was very rude, did not listen to me and said that meter needs to be changed as it is faulty. Although Mr Yogesh had mentioned that meter is fine. He asked me to submit a new application as the other could not be found. I asked him to get in touch with Mr Yogesh, his reply was,” I dont work for him/ nor work under him”. I informed the same to Mr Yogesh. He assured me that I shouldnt worry and things would be fine soon. No meter change was required

We want UPPCL to update the information regarding this issue on the website so that others do not face the same issue.Secondly, there should be a guidebook or rule book to inform the consumers about what are the consumer rights and what action is expected of the UPPCL employees regarding various issues faced by the consumers in general.An organisational hierarchy chart in every powerhouse should be posted to inform consumers as to who needs to be approached for different issues or complaints. Information regarding the complaint redressal time period and penalty, when consumer is at fault should be put up in the powerhouse. Applications filed by consumers should be archived or filed properly and acknowledgement regarding the same should be given to the client for the same. Personally we want our metered units consumed by us to be billed appropriately. and if the meter is functional, the consumers should not be forced to change the meter/ instrument by UPPCL

Complainant Information
acharyyan