The reading on your bill does not match your meter

The symptom: “The present reading printed on my bill is higher than what the meter actually shows.”

Short answer. A meter cannot run backwards, so if today's display is lower than the present reading printed on a bill dated earlier, the bill is demonstrably wrong. Photograph the display with a visible date, take it with the disputed bill to the sub-divisional office, and ask in writing for a reading correction — the adjustment appears as a credit on the following bill.

Urgency: Fix before the next bill. Expect: A clear-cut transcription error is often corrected within one billing cycle. A case that needs a physical meter inspection takes two.

Why this happens

A transcription error: Readings are still frequently written on a sheet and keyed in later. A digit dropped or added at either stage produces exactly this symptom.
The wrong meter was read: Common where several meters are mounted on one board with faded number plates. Your reading goes onto a neighbour's account and theirs onto yours, so both bills are wrong in opposite directions.
An estimate recorded as a real reading: Where access failed, an estimated figure sometimes enters the system without the estimate flag, which makes it look like a taken reading and removes the automatic correction that estimates normally get.
A register rollover was mishandled: A meter passing 99,999 and restarting at zero produces a nonsensical difference unless the system accounts for it. The resulting bill is either absurdly large or negative.
The wrong screen was read on a digital meter: Digital meters cycle through voltage, current, demand and tamper screens as well as kWh. Reading the wrong one produces a number with no relationship to consumption.

What to do, in order

Photograph the meter today, with the date visible. Include the meter's own number plate in the frame so the photograph proves which device it is. A newspaper or a phone screen showing the date in shot removes any argument about when it was taken.
Work out what the reading should have been. Take today's reading, subtract your typical daily consumption multiplied by the days since the bill's reading date. That gives the figure the bill should have shown, and it is what you are asking them to substitute.
Compare against the twelve-month strip. The consumption history at the foot of the bill shows what a normal month looks like for you. A cycle that is three times any of the preceding twelve is prima facie wrong and the strip is the evidence.
File a written application at the sub-division. State the disputed reading, the correct reading, the date of your photograph, and what you want — a corrected bill and adjustment of any surcharge already applied. Get the copy stamped.
Pay the undisputed portion. Pay what the bill would have been on the corrected reading, and note on the application that you have done so. This protects you from disconnection while the correction is processed.
Check the following bill for the adjustment. The correction appears as an adjustment line rather than as a reissued bill. If it has not appeared within two cycles, escalate with the stamped copy.

What to take with you

The disputed bill
The previous two bills, for the consumption history
A dated photograph of the meter display and its number plate
Your CNIC

If it stalls, escalate in this order

Sub-divisional officer, in writing with a diary number
Executive engineer at the division
Provincial Electric Inspector, if the dispute becomes one about meter accuracy rather than data entry

Attach the earlier stamped applications at each rung. Starting the story again from the beginning at every level is the slowest possible way to escalate.

Frequently asked questions

Should I pay a bill I believe is wrong?

Pay the portion you accept and record that you have done so on the written complaint. Paying nothing invites disconnection over a sum you never disputed; paying everything without protest weakens the argument that anything was wrong.

The reader never comes to my meter. Can I submit my own reading?

Some companies accept a self-reading with a dated photograph at the customer services counter or through a consumer app. Where it is accepted it is the cleanest possible fix, because it removes the access problem at its source.

My neighbour's bill is unusually low the same month mine is high.

That is the swapped-reading signature. Raise it together — two applications describing mirror-image errors on adjacent meters are resolved far faster than one, because they diagnose the cause for the office.

Background reading

All 17 procedures are listed in the help centre index. For company contact details and helplines, see complaints.