While we are still recovering from and still fighting the coronavirus, many of the countrymen across different states in the country felt the heat of inflated electricity bills in the month of June. This shocker came when distribution companies handed over hefty utility bills to the consumers. Complaints of exorbitant electricity bills were received from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, Delhi, Mumbai and other various regions of the country, where residents stated that their electricity bills increased two-three folds during the lockdown months.
Why is there a Hike in the Utility bills?
1. Advents of the Lockdown
The unprecedented virus and the lockdown itself had confined almost all of mankind to its home. People stayed at their homes and consumed more energy than what they would have normally consumed. Besides being at home all throughout the day, people had to work from home. This led to an increase in per capita energy consumption. Before the lockdown, people used to go to the office and use electrical devices such as laptops, cellphones and air-conditioners at the office. However, during the lockdown, all the energy is now consumed at homes, which in turn has led to an increase in the residential bills.
2. Seasonal Impact
While the people stayed in their homes during the lockdown, the heatwave in India gripped in the month of May and increased the per capita electricity consumption. The energy consumption also increased as due to climate getting warmer, people had to turn on their desert coolers, fans and air conditioners. In fact, the consumption increased many folds as people had to stay and use appliances 24×7.
3. Uncanny Meter Reading & Billing Method
Owing to the regulations of restricted movement, the electricity distribution companies were either unable to send staff or faced difficulty in reaching consumers’ homes to note the metre readings. So, some companies in spite of billing consumers during March, April and May, they billed them on the basis of utility bills for the same months of last year. And some companies halted the process of billing altogether. But, as the normal billing process gets started, companies have billed consumers for the last three months in one go, without taking into account the change in slab levels. Consumers are overwhelmed by the unreasonably high amounts they have been asked to pay.
How Solar Rooftop Reduces Your E-Bill During the Lockdown
A typical photovoltaic system of 3 kW generates of around 20 unit of electricity every day and if you are using it instead of the energy from the regular grid, you can save off your electric utility bills. After all, money saved is money earned.
Also, as the summer is already here with the scorching sun, the energy produced by a solar power system is often more than the energy consumption of a household. So, if you have an on-grid or hybrid solar panel system, you can sell the excess energy to the electricity provider firm through a nearby.
In fact, a 1 kW Solar rooftop generates 1500 units of electricity in a year. This is equivalent to planting 154 trees and save 20 tons of Carbon-di-oxide emissions. While many people are worried about their hiked utility bill, many of our happy customers have shared their Zero Electricity Bills from their distribution companies during this lockdown.
Do give our blog a read for all your solar-related questions. You can also check out other interesting updates on solar on our Facebook page (facebook.com/zunroof)
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