Published 13:54 IST, June 29th 2020
Vir Das mocks Mumbai's electricity tariff hike explanation, says it 'appears to be comedy'
In response to user complaints on surging electricity bills, Adani Power has issued a statement to explain that the calculation is based on the last 3 months.
Trust a comedian to dish out comebacks for any situation. Vir Das took to Twitter to mock the logic used by Mumbai electricity providers in their explanation for spiked bill amounts for the month of June 2020. He had been one of the many celebrities who had complained about the suddenly high-amount electricity bills that Mumbaikars were facing after 3 months of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Vir Das joked that 'electricity appears to be comedy' as he made a hilarious statement in response to the power companies' stance.
Have a look:
Earlier on Sunday, a spokesperson from Adani Electricity responded to the outrage by the residents of Mumbai on seeing their June bills and issued a statement explaining the hefty power bills for Mumbaikars in the month of June. Adani Power had also tweeted a detailed breakdown of the calculation of the high-amount power bills for June 2020.
"We have re-started physical meter reading which was temporarily halted since March because of Covid-19. Bills were generated on lower side being an average of preceding three months i.e. Dec, Jan & Feb, which are winter months. Actual consumption in the months of Apr, May & June is comparatively higher due to seasonal impact (summer) and increased usage (advent of Lockdown/Work from Home). Now the consumers will start receiving the bills based on their actual consumption with appropriate tariff slab benefits. The bill amount for the past period shall be accounted as per MERC guidelines."
Many Bollywood stars had expressed their displeasure on Twitter after receiving three to 10 times the bill amount that they usually pay. After actor Taapsee Pannu took a sarcastic dig at a power company, more celebrities had similar reactions, including those whose houses were vacant. Vir Das had also asked his followers on Twitter if they received a bill amount that was three times the amount they usually pay. Actors Neha Dhupia, Ashish Chowdhry, Dino Morea, Kamya Punjabi replied in the affirmative.
Meanwhile, State Energy Minister Nitin Raut also clarified that there has been no cheating in the calculation of the bills for the 2.30 crore electricity consumers of MSEDCL. He added, "In fact, MSEDCL too has suffered loss of approximately 3,500 in absence of physical reading. People can check their bills online and avail to pay in installments. They don't have to pay in lump sum. We will not cut power supply."
Updated 13:54 IST, June 29th 2020