People in the capital are still not convinced with the Bhutan Power Corporation’s (BPC) verbal and written explanation for the high billing during the lockdown. Many feel the justification and clarification provided by the BPC didn’t quite resolve the issue.
The average billing system introduced after the second nationwide lockdown faced numerous criticism from the public. Although BPC initiated series of attempts to resolve the issue through social media and service counters, many say the issue still remains unclear.
“In the past, I only paid around Nu 800 to 900 even during winters. But this time I have to pay more than Nu 30,000,” said Pem Chuki, a resident of Thimphu.
“The BPC’s recent billing system has caused so many inconveniences. Before the lockdown, be it in summer or winter, we only paid around Nu 500 to 700 at the most. We were hoping they would bring down the billed amount, but we were told we have to actually pay it. I don’t understand why we have to pay the unusually high bill this time even after we complained so many times,” added Tenzin Wangchuk, a customer.
BPC tried to resolve the issue by issuing a letter to each client. The office contacted about 46,000 clients in the capital and issued a notification explaining the amount.
“We have looked at their consumption pattern one by one and we have sent a letter to each customer along with the bill. So in that, it clearly explains your consumption pattern; How you would have been billed in an event if the billing reading had taken place at a regular interval, and so on,” said Sonam Tobjey, the CEO of the BPC.
According to the BPC, besides explaining the actual bill, people were also offered other ways of payment.
“In that, we have also stated that if a customer is not able to pay, we have also offered them the instalment payment basis and we have also clearly stated that the penalty will be waived. In the event, if the customer is not satisfied with the explanation we provided we have set up a dedicated complaint centre,” the CEO added.
The Complaint Centre received an average of 90 to 100 walk-in clients since its opening on the 26th of February. The team for the complaint centre comprised of six employees of the BPC assigned especially to facilitate the clients regarding the high billing issue.
The BPC has corrected over 600 bills to date. They say, till now no meter defect was detected from over 20 complaints from the clients who requested to test their meters.
The office urges the people to visit the counters to address their issue and in order to maintain fairness, the late penalty fee for the month of January, February and March will be waived even though it is reflected in the bill due to some technical limitations.
Yeshi Dorji
