Mohali resident gets shock of his life as he gets electricity bill for Rs 9 lakh
Inflated electricity bills trigger outrage in Mohali, PSPCL under fire
The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has come under sharp criticism after residents of Phase 11 and other areas in Mohali reported receiving electricity bills running into lakhs of rupees.
A particularly shocking case involved a residential consumer who was issued a bill for Rs 8,88,330, triggering outrage among locals.
Congress leader and former health minister Balbir Sidhu raised the issue at a press conference, calling it a case of “gross negligence” by the electricity department.
“Electricity bills were deliberately not sent to people for four to five months, so that later, huge lump-sum bills could be generated by bypassing the zero bill option,” Sidhu alleged, questioning the government’s intent.
Displaying bills running into lakhs of rupees, Sidhu said such amounts are impossible for ordinary households to pay and reflect a failure in billing management.
“This is not a ‘zero bill’ scheme, but rather a ‘hero to zero’ policy failure, which has burdened people instead of providing relief,” he said.
He also alleged that public grievances are not being properly addressed at PSPCL offices, with residents repeatedly visiting them but receiving no resolution. In some cases, electricity meters are reportedly being removed without justification, he claimed.
PSPCL recently shifted from its legacy SAP system to Oracle’s cloud-based billing platform for monthly billing.
