After other power consumers, it is now the turn of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport’s committee member, Ravi Raja, to bear the brunt of audaciously high electricity bills. Mr Raja has been slapped with a bill of Rs 85,000.

At the Standing Committee on Friday, Mr Raja said that not only was the amount too high, but the consumer number identifying the electricity meter from all others was also wrong. “First of all the meter is registered on my wife’s name and I am not supposed to get these messages. Secondly, the consumer number in the SMS is all wrong and we are never billed such atrocious amounts,” he said.

BEST general manager, Jagdish Patil, said that he would look into the matter. “We have launched the SMS alert facility in the first week of this month, so we are ironing out the kinks in the system and will get back to you for sure,” said Mr Patil.

In the evening, BEST came out with a press release stating that consumers may get such SMSes if they have already been in their database. ‘The data of customers’ mobile numbers is gathered through various means and SMS alerts are sent on mobile numbers available in our database. So, some people might have received such SMS alerts inadvertently,” said the press release.

For the purpose of verification, mobile numbers will be printed on electricity bills of customers and customers are requested to verify these numbers. In case the mobile numbers are incorrect, they are requested to register on the BEST website www.bestundertaking.net by giving their correct mobile number or contact the help line number: 22843939.