Man Pays Electricity Bill in Coins, Puts Maharashtra Electricity Company in a Difficult Situation

Islamabad:A man from the Indian state of Maharashtra created a unique situation for an electric company when he decided to pay his electricity bill of ₹7,160 (approximately 7,160 rupees) using coins weighing 40 kilograms, the equivalent of one ‘man’ (a traditional Indian unit of weight). The employees of the electricity company faced immense difficulty counting the coins, even sweating in the cold weather while performing this task.

According to Indian media reports, the incident took place in the Washim district of Maharashtra, where the individual used one- and two-rupee coins to pay his bill. The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) employees found this coin-counting process to be their worst nightmare.

Employees revealed that the customer, instead of paying in regular currency, brought a massive pile of coins to settle his ₹7,160 electricity bill. To make matters worse, the coins had to be transported from the customer’s house to the company’s office, a one-kilometer distance, using a two-wheeled cart.

The company assigned three employees—Prashant Thote (cashier), Adhu Gajbhar (line man), and Atul Thar (contract worker)—to count the coins, a process that took about five hours. Despite the cold weather, the employees found themselves sweating throughout the arduous task.

The electricity company explained that since the coins were legal tender, they could not refuse the payment method. The employees had no choice but to count the coins and accept the payment.

This unusual incident follows a similar one that occurred in November 2023 in Karnataka’s Kolam, where a person paid his electricity bill using coins due to frustration with frequent power cuts and poor service by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). In that case, the individual even paid the bills for eight other households in coins, totaling around ₹10,000.

Regarding the legality of paying bills in coins, a 2021 decision by the Additional District Consumer Disputes Forum in Nagpur clarified that under the Coinage Act of 2011, no one can deposit coins worth more than ₹1,000 in a day. However, the forum later reversed this decision after an individual filed a petition to pay a bill of ₹36,000 using coins.