Power Minister cites summer heat
Panaji: Amid widespread public concern over unusually high electricity bills, the electricity department has revealed that it received 2,469 complaints regarding incorrect billing from consumers between April 1 and the present date this accounting year.
Of the total complaints received this year, 1,278 were for incorrect billing, 606 for high bills, 389 for meter-related issues and 196 for a sudden increase in consumption. The data highlights ongoing consumer distrust, particularly among domestic users, toward the electricity department’s billing system. This skepticism is reflected in consistently high complaint volumes over recent years: 7,792 in 2023-24, 5,781 in 2024-25 and 5,938 in 2025-26, primarily spanning the same four categories.
Power Minister Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar provided the figures in response to a question raised by St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar during the recently concluded Assembly session.
Dhavalikar said that variations in power bills depend on actual consumption and external factors, including seasonal conditions and increased appliance usage. He said that the recent spike in consumption and elevated bills was driven by an extreme summer that raised cooling appliance usage, higher induction cooking due to the recent global oil crisis and increased electric vehicle charging.
He said that the department continuously monitors consumption patterns and takes corrective action whenever abnormal billing is reported.
To provide relief, the department withdrew penalties previously levied for excess unregularised load and reversed those charges through bill adjustments.
Addressing tariff structures, Dhavalikar said that domestic consumers are substantially cross-subsidised by commercial and industrial sectors.
Because the average billing rate for domestic users remains considerably lower than the average cost of supply, the government said that domestic power tariffs are on the lower side.
