Cousin sent a photo of the meter at 9.40 pm.
Last reading, this reading, and a circled 320.
He wrote, just tell me the rupee, I will argue with landlord tomorrow.
I did not open a state board PDF.
I dont have every DISCOM table in my head, and I will not fake one.
The honest path is units times a rate you already paid, plus the fixed charge if last bill had one.
That is a kitchen estimate.
Not a demand notice.
What 320 units even means on a meter
Units here means kWh.
The meter counted 320 of them between two dates.
Could be 30 days.
Could be 28.
Could be a two month cycle if your colony still does that.
I always ask, is this one month or the full cycle.
People mix that and then say I am wrong.
320 in a hot month with one AC is common.
320 with no AC and a small flat is high, so I ask what is running.
Fridge is always there.
Pump, geyser, iron, those sneak in.
But the bill math does not care what ate the units.
It only cares how many, and what you pay per unit.
So I keep the story and the rupee separate.
Story is for later, when you want to cut the next bill.
Rupee is units, rate, fixed.
Open last paper bill if you have it.
The energy line is the one with units and a rupee next to it.
Fixed charge is usually a small extra line.
Duty or surcharge may sit below that.
I do not invent those extra lines from memory.
If you know them, add them.
If you dont, say so, and live with a band, not a exact paisa.
Single rate, the quick guess I actually use
Say last bill showed something like ₹7 a unit, blended.
I am not saying your city is 7.
I am saying pick a number from your own sheet.
320 times 7 is 2,240.
That is energy.
If fixed charge last time was ₹80, add it.
Total near ₹2,320.
That is the number I sent my cousin.
I wrote, plus minus a bit if they stuffed fuel surcharge in a separate box.
He wanted one figure.
I gave him 2,320 and told him it is a guess built on his last rate.
If his rate is 6, energy is 1,920, plus 80 is 2,000.
If rate is 8, energy is 2,560, plus 80 is 2,640.
See how the rate moves the whole story.
Units stay 320.
Money does not.
This is why I refuse to quote a Jaipur number and a Chennai number as if I printed both.
Neighbour rate from another state is useless.
Same building, different connection type, also can differ.
Shop meter and house meter are not twins.
So, I ask him to type his own rate in the electricity bill calculator.
Units box gets 320.
Mode stays single rate if he only has one number.
Rate box gets 7, or 6.5, or whatever last energy charge implied.
Fixed charge box gets 80, or 0 if his sheet has none.
Calculate.
Read the energy line and the total.
Treat that total as estimate, not official.
I ran 320 at 7 with 80 fixed on this site.
Energy 2,240.
Fixed 80.
Total 2,320.
Same arithmetic as the WhatsApp reply.
Only difference is you can change the 7 without me sitting there.
If you change days in your head, that does not change this month.
This month already happened.
320 is already on the meter.
The tool is not predicting next month unless you type a different unit count.
People put yearly units in that box.
Dont.
320 yearly would be a tiny house.
320 monthly is a normal summer story in many flats.
Two slabs if your bill looks chopped
Some bills are not one rate.
First chunk cheap, next chunk dear.
I still wont paste a official slab chart.
You type the cut you see.
On this tool, two-slab mode is enough for a rough split.
Example I use when cousin says first 150 is cheaper.
First 150 at ₹5.
That is 750.
Rest is 320 minus 150, so 170.
170 at ₹8 is 1,360.
Energy becomes 2,110.
Add ₹80 fixed.
Total near ₹2,190.
Different from the flat 7 story.
Both can be honest if they match how his last bill was printed.
If his first slab is 100, not 150, the rest grows.
100 at 5 is 500.
220 at 8 is 1,760.
Energy 2,260 plus fixed.
I am showing the method.
Your slab numbers come from your paper.
Three slabs, four slabs, I do not have a third rate box.
So I blend.
Or I do two runs in my head.
First 200 at one rate, leftover at another, close enough for a landlord chat.
For a court case, no.
For, can I pay 2,200 or will it be 3,500, yes.
Subsidy, if you get one, I do not auto apply.
If last bill already reduced the energy line, your blended rate is already softer.
Use that softer number.
If subsidy vanished this month, use the harder rate.
I cannot see your name on a free-unit scheme.
Fuel adjustment, electricity duty, those extra lines, two ways.
Fold a few paise into the unit rate.
Or dump a lump in fixed charge.
I told cousin, if last bill had ₹120 of extras besides the 80 fixed, put 200 in the fixed box and keep the unit rate clean.
Or put 7.4 instead of 7 and leave fixed at 80.
Dont do both and then say I doubled it.
One place for the extras.
Boxes I fill on this site, slowly
I open electricity bill calculator on the phone.
Units this month, 320.
Rate style, single or two slabs.
If single, rate box is the only rate.
If slabs, first slab rate, first slab units, second slab rate.
Fixed charge last.
I look at the result breakdown.
Energy charge should look like units times rate, or the two chunk sum.
Fixed should match what I typed.
Total is those added.
If the number looks wild, I check I did not type 3200.
Extra zero is a classic.
Or 32, missing a zero.
Then I check rate, 70 instead of 7.
That makes a bill look like a small car EMI.
I laugh, I fix the box, I send the screenshot.
I also say, confirm on the board app when the real bill lands.
This site is a helper.
It is not your electricity board.
I wrote that again because people screenshot the result and send it as proof.
It is proof of arithmetic.
Not proof of tariff.
If you want next month, guess units first.
Two ACs can push you toward 400.
I have a separate note on summer bill around 400 units in Rajasthan.
Rate still comes from your last JVVNL style bill, not from me inventing a circular.
Same tool.
Different units.
If you do not even know the rate, stop here and read I dont know my unit rate.
That post is only about pulling a blended rupee from last energy line.
Then come back to 320.
If the fight is where to put the monthly rent-of-the-meter line, see fixed charge, where to add it.
Dont stuff that rupee into the unit rate unless you want a messy rate that only works at exactly 320.
Stuff that still sits outside this estimate
Two meters in one house.
Run the tool twice.
Add the two totals.
I did that for a floor plus a pump meter.
Landlord had only one number in his head.
Two printouts, two estimates.
Prepaid meter is another mood.
You see rupees leave the balance, not a monthly PDF.
Still, units times rate is the same idea.
You just dont wait 30 days.
Solar net metering, I do not net it in this box.
If you exported, your billed units may already be net.
Type billed units, not the raw generation.
Paying guest sharing, 320 on the main meter, four rooms.
The bill estimate is still one total.
Split is a different fight.
Use split bill after you have the rupee.
I dont mix those two tools in one breath if the guy is already confused.
Shop plus house on one connection.
Tariff category can change the rate a lot.
I still wont guess commercial vs domestic from a photo of a meter.
Look at last bill header.
Then type that rate.
Late fee, I leave out unless it is already printed.
This estimate is for consumption, not for last month unpaid.
If cousin pays late every time, his WhatsApp number and the board number will never match.
That is not my slab math failing.
Minimum charges, some connections have a floor.
If 320 times rate is already above that floor, you can ignore the floor.
If someone types 40 units and wonders why the real bill is higher, maybe minimum, maybe fixed, maybe they read the wrong meter.
I dont pretend I know.
I ask for last PDF.
Then I repeat, 320 units times your rate, plus fixed.
That sentence is the whole post.
The worked numbers above are samples so you see the shape.
Change the 7.
Change the 80.
Keep the 320 if that is what the meter said.
I will not publish a fake table for every city.
If you need the official figure, wait for the bill, or open the board site and use their own calculator if they have one.
Till then, ₹2,320 at 7 plus 80 is a fair kitchen number.
₹2,190 if you honestly have that 150-and-rest split.
Send the range.
Dont send a speech.
Landlord understands a range.
He does not understand a essay about tariffs.
I learnt that the noisy way.