THODUPUZHA: The people of Thodupuzha were shell-shocked, after having a quick glance at their latest electricity bill. Normally the houses here received bills in the range of Rs 2000-3000. That was it. A big anomaly and rather shocking, this time the range flipped tenfold high reaching the inexplicable Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000. The bill came from the Thodupuzha Section 1 office. It is learned that more than 30 houses that come under the corporation received the humongous bill.

Manarcaud native Sunny Sebastion earlier received a Rs 2700 bill but it has now gone up to Rs 60,611. M S Pavanan who earlier paid around Rs 1700-2000 as electricity bill now received Rs 33,705 bill. Flummoxed by the tariff hikes, the consumers shared their concerns with corporation chairman Saneesh George and councilor K Deepak. The councilor and the chairman along with the people reached the KSEB office and protested to the executive engineer.

During June, areas including Manacaud and Kumaramangalam saw such high bills reaching consumers. A resultant investigation brought into light the tampering in reading by the meter reader working with KSEB. The senior superintendent and the senior assistant were suspended from service then.

Interestingly, the increased tariff happened in the same location where the meter reader was caught earlier tampering with readings. Such that the KSEB allayed the tensions and asked the consumers to not pay the whole amount but only pay the average of it. As of now, 230 complaints have reached the office. The vigilance will probe into the matter after which the real negligence is expected to surface.