Kerala Water Authority bill quashed due to lack of clarity

Thiruvananthapuram: The Thrissur Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum cancelled an exorbitant bill issued by Kerala Water Authority (KWA) and directed it to pay the consumer Rs 2,000 for lack of transparency in billing. As per the complaint filed by Jose Mathew of Varandrapilly, Thrissur, the KWA had never sent him the bill. Every six months, he would go to the KWA office and pay as instructed by the officials. When he visited the KWA office in July 2016, officials present demanded Rs 30,000 as water charges. This was later adjusted to Rs 15,992 after a lot of bargains.

Finding the huge bill unreasonable, Mr Mathew approached the consumer forum citing lack of transparency in billing which amounted to deficiency and demanded the cancellation of the exorbitant bill. The KWA, on its part, told that the complainant had paid water charges till November 2015. A high consumption was recorded by metre readers between November 2015 and January 2016. But the consumption levels came down to a minimum till July, 2015.

This showed that the metre was working properly and these details were clearly recorded in the consumer personal ledger. The Forum verified all details and found out that the arrears stood at Rs16,709. But it was not clear how KWA arrived at such an amount. The Forum directed KWA to pay Rs2,000 towards legal expenses incurred by Mr Mathew. KWA was directed to collect dues after convincing the same to the complainant.