Mumbai: Energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule assured the state Legislative Assembly that there is no shortage of electricity meters in the state. The consumers, who have received inflated bills due to unavailability of meters, will be sent corrected bills, he said.

The members had raised in the Assembly the issue of people not getting electricity connections due to unavailability of meters.

Mr Bawankule replied saying there is no shortage of electricity meters in the state. Action will be taken against officials, who are found cheating consumers despite availability of meters, he said.

The assistant engineer will be held responsible for power cuts. Such incidents take place due to dereliction of duty and without any technical glitches, the minister said.

The matter will be connected to his increment, which means the officer’s increment will be affected if power supply is disconnected due to negligence, added Mr Bawankule.

The energy minister said that there was a shortage of electricity meters for four months in the interim.

The new meters were not given as 15,18,000 consumers had to be provided electricity connections before March 31 under the Central government’s Saubhagya scheme.