Water Minister and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Chairman  Satyendar Jain on Thursday said water bills can not be more than 1.5x last month's bill anymore.

Taking it to micro blogging site, Jain tweeted: The Delhi Jal Board has updated its billing system today. Now your bill cannot be more than 1.5 times the previous month. If it exceeds this, an explanation will be provided to the customer, and he or she may file a complaint. The Delhi Jal Board will be held accountable and responsible for any errors.”

His decision came after receiving many grievances by Jal Board officials wherein the meter readers either do not upload a picture of the current meter reading or upload a random image and put a reading as deemed fit by them.

“This exercise has no check until a consumer lodges a complaint about the same. Most consumers pay their bills thinking to be accurate and not realising the change in consumption pattern in the bi-monthly billing cycle,” a Government official said.

According to officials,  there  will be an automatic system check to stop billing from the meter readers tablet if consumption variance is more than 50% higher or lower in comparison to the previous bill. “In such a case, the bill will only be generated by the Zonal Revenue Office, if the meter reading image confirms the consumption. This step will curb the erroneous reading bills that were being generated,” DJB official said.

The department will strengthen its vigilance system. In case of improper images of the meter reading, meter Inspectors will visit the site and recheck the images and make sure the images are taken properly by the meter readers.

This incorrect image feeding will also call for strict action against the concerned meter readers. This will bring a robust system ensuring 100 percent accuracy in billing.

At present, there are about 900-meter readers taking readings of about 26.50 Lac consumers in 41 zones of DJB. Out of these consumers, about 18 lac consumers avail zero bills under free water scheme.