I emailed Mr Pandey, the MD of BESCOM, as follows:

Dear Mr Pandey, 

I am a very ordinary consumer, and here are the details about me. 

Name: Mrs Deepa Mohan, 

Address: xxxxx 

Consumer no: xxxx

For the past several years,  I  have been using the ECS facility to pay our power bills, and have never once been in arrears. Also, we took the ECS option to prevent our power supply being disconnected, since we travel a lot. 

On the 25th of October,  when I was  abroad,  our power supply was disconnected, and five days later, a lineman appeared at our doorstep. Fortunately, my maid had just come to do a clean up of the empty house.  He said that unless Rs 1600 was paid, he would not reconnect the electricity. She borrowed some money and paid it, and the power was reconnected after 5 days, during which time much of the contents of the freezer had been spoilt.  When I returned on the 7th of November from our trip abroad, I  found that a small piece of paper had been given as a receipt for the amount. Luckily, my maid kept it carefully and gave it to me. 

I am told that this paper is very important to recover the deposit at a later date or transfer. But in our absence, this paper could very easily have been lost. 

I went to both the Bangalore One office nearby and then the Customer Center nearb, but no one was able to explain to me why I had to suddenly pay Rs 1600, and why, if it was necessary, the amount could not be deducted from my bank account as usual.  

Also, when we have never been in arrears, why was our electricity disconnected with no prior notice, especially when we were not there to pay the amount, and also when it could have been deducted from our bank account if necessary? 

We take objection to this kind of behaviour on the part of the BESCOM lineman, and I would appreciate a reply from you, explaining why we had to undergo this unnecessary harassment and hardship. 

I have looked at the BESCOM website and have made the complaint on the regular format. But since I am quite upset about the cavalier way in which our power was disconnected, I am also writing this to you. 

Thanking you,

Mrs Deepa Mohan

Docket No: N0S6A80170 

Your complaint’s category is : N – GENERAL

Which will be resolved within the date & time : 19/Nov/2014 08:16 PM   

Docket generated on 12/Nov/2014 08:16 PM

He responded by email within a few minutes, marking my email to the General Manager, Mr Ramdas, asking him to look personally into the matter.

I am hoping for a quick investigation (and hopefully, a refund of my deposit).