Faulty electricity billing for apartments

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WHEN I lived in an independent house five years ago, I used to get electricity bills according to my expectation. Since I moved to an apartment house, my bills have been fluctuating every month. If it was for Tk 700 in one month, it rose to Tk 1000 in another. Even I got bills for Tk 1900 for two consecutive months without any arrears. I do not have an air-conditioner or any appliance which consumes much power. My electricity consumption on an average, fluctuates between 350 and 400 units. I have tried to locate the problem by reading my metre after shutting down all connections to my flat. No problem could be traced. I have so far lived in two apartments in separate complexes but the same problem remained.
Surprisingly most of the apartment owners and tenants in our building have the same complaints regarding the electricity bills. They say that they used to get smaller of bills when they lived in independent houses. It seems that there might be manipulation in meter reading. It is learnt that the reading of metres in apartment houses is not done by the metre readers of Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority. Usually the personnel employed by the society note down the reading to hand over to the DESA people. So we cannot overrule the possibility that the metre readers might transfer the burden of pilferage on us. May be the functionaries of the societies also collect their bills from us. Whatever it is, the situation calls for an investigation by the authorities for a correction.
Shahid Ahmed
Shantinagar, Dhaka