A household in Noakhali's Chatkhil upazila has been billed Tk 1,10,496 for September, more than 80 times its usual monthly electricity charge, even though it runs only three lights, two ceiling fans, a refrigerator and an internet router.

Shahidul Islam Roni, who lives at the home in Harikrishnapur village of Badalkot union, said he had been paying Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,300 a month. The August bill for the same appliances was Tk 1,326.

The meter is registered in the name of the late Abu Taher of the household, and Taher's grandson, Shahidul Islam Roni, uses it. Over the previous five months, consumption averaged 187 units, but the September bill recorded 6,000 units, the customer said.

"How can a bill of more than one lakh taka come from running lights and fans?" he said, describing the charge as a ghost bill produced by careless work by the billing staff. He demanded action against those responsible.

Junaidur Rahman, deputy general manager of the Palli Bidyut Samity's Chatkhil regional office, first said he could not comment without seeing the bill. After a copy was sent to him, he said: "This happened by mistake. Our people will visit the customer's home soon to check the meter. The bill will be corrected."

The case follows several complaints this year about abnormally high rural power bills in Bangladesh. In Magura in September, a customer was billed about Tk 506 crore for 235 units; the utility suspended its general manager and later corrected the bill, saying one digit of a meter seal number had been entered in the wrong field.