The owner of a small tyre repair shop in Haryana's Faridabad town was handed an electricity bill of over Rs 77 crore, leaving him utterly "shocked".
The owner of Surinder Auto Works in Faridabad town, adjoining New Delhi, said he and his family were "shocked" to see the bill and the amount of over Rs 77.89 crore mentioned in it.
"I run a shop from a rented premises, where I repair punctured tyres. My bill has always been Rs 2,000-2,500. I only have a fan and a bulb working here. I have cleared all my earlier bills. This one came as a shocker," said the shopkeeper, whose premises is in Adarsh Nagar colony.
Neighbours said the shopkeeper's mother had to be taken to a doctor as she felt unwell after hearing about the huge bill.
The bill, dated 31 October, was issued by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam.
This is not the first instance in Haryana that a consumer has been given a big bill.
A paan-seller (betel-leaf seller) in Haryana's Gohana town in Sonipat district got a bill of Rs 132 crore in October last year.
Earlier, an electricity consumer in Haryana's Narnaul town got a bill of Rs 234 crore in April 2007.
Officials of the concerned power utilities blamed the bills on technical and computer glitches.