Your bill has jumped and nothing obvious changed

The symptom: “This month's bill is far higher than last month and I have not changed anything.”

Short answer. Compare units first, not rupees. If units are similar and the amount rose, the cause is a rate line — fuel price adjustment, a quarterly adjustment, or a change of protected status. If units genuinely rose, the cause is either a slab boundary crossed, a preceding estimate being corrected, or a real load you have not accounted for.

Urgency: Act before the due date. Expect: Diagnosis takes twenty minutes at home. Where a correction is warranted it lands within one to two cycles.

Why this happens

Loss of protected status: One month above 200 units moves a residential account onto the unprotected schedule for the following six months. The bill after that transition rises sharply even if consumption falls back.
A slab boundary crossed: The residential ladder is steep. A modest rise in units across a boundary produces a disproportionate rise in the amount, and for unprotected consumers can re-price the whole month.
A previous estimate being settled: If earlier cycles were estimated low, the first real reading captures everything that was under-billed and prices it in one month.
Fuel and quarterly adjustments: These are per-unit lines set centrally. A rise in either raises the bill without any change in consumption, and raises the sales tax computed on top of them.
A genuine new load: An air conditioner used for the first time that season, a water pump running longer because the supply pressure dropped, a geyser left on continuously, or a new refrigerator that replaced nothing.
An earth leakage or a shared connection: A failing water heater element, damp wiring or a neighbour's illegal tap all consume real units that the meter correctly records. Rare, but this is the case where the bill is right and the installation is wrong.

What to do, in order

Compare units, not amounts, against the same month last year. The twelve-month strip on the bill makes this a ten-second check. Year-on-year removes the seasonal swing that month-on-month comparisons drown in.
If units are flat, read the rate lines. Put this bill beside the previous one and compare the fuel adjustment, the quarterly adjustment and the tariff code line by line. One of them will have moved, and that is your answer.
Check your protected status. Look for a month above 200 units in the last six on the consumption strip. If there is one, the status change explains the step, and it will reverse after six clean months.
Check for an estimate in the preceding cycles. An estimate code on any of the last three bills means part of this month's units belong to earlier months, and a spread adjustment is worth requesting.
Run the meter test at home. Switch off every breaker except the main. If the meter disc or the pulse indicator keeps advancing with no load connected, there is either leakage in your wiring or an unauthorised connection downstream of your meter. Both are urgent and both are yours to fix.
Only then take it to the office. Arriving with 'the bill is too high' produces sympathy. Arriving with 'my units rose 12 per cent but the amount rose 60 per cent, and here are both bills' produces a decision.

What to take with you

This bill and the previous three
A dated photograph of the current meter reading

If it stalls, escalate in this order

Sub-divisional officer for a reading or status correction
Executive engineer if a corrected bill is not issued within two cycles

Attach the earlier stamped applications at each rung. Starting the story again from the beginning at every level is the slowest possible way to escalate.

Frequently asked questions

My units doubled in July but I was away for two weeks. How?

Check whether the cycle covered more than about thirty-two days — a delayed reading date stretches the period and the units with it. Also check the reading status: if June was estimated while you were away and July was read, July is carrying both months.

Can a faulty meter over-record?

It is much rarer than under-recording, but it happens, and it is exactly what a meter test is for. A meter found outside its accuracy class is replaced and the affected billing adjusted.

Is there any way to get a high bill reduced as a hardship case?

A correctly calculated bill is not reduced, but an instalment plan on a large amount is routinely sanctioned by the sub-divisional officer on written application, which converts an impossible single payment into a manageable series.

Background reading

All 17 procedures are listed in the help centre index. For company contact details and helplines, see complaints.