The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Power theft arrears yet to be written off

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Monday, Feb 16, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Power theft arrears yet to be written off

Swathi V.

Government Order scrapping pending theft cases issued six months ago

Over one lakh consumers dismayed as bills still showing pending arrears
Majority of the arrears are to CPDCL due to high pilferage rates in poorer districts

HYDERABAD: Over one lakh power consumers across the State are in a state of confusion about their power bills still showing the long pending arrears inflated to excessive proportions, together with the surcharges for delayed payment.

Contrary to the State government’s grandiose announcement 10 months ago and the issuance of corresponding G.O. six months ago, of scrapping the pending theft cases against power consumers, nothing seems to have been done towards this direction as yet.

“I have arrears of Rs.12,500 that have grown to Rs.18,000 along with surcharge.

Though the proceedings against me at the Nampally Criminal Court have been suspended, my power bills are still showing the arrears and officials threaten me every month with snapping of the connection,” says M. Raju, an auto driver from Uppuguda and additional general secretary of Voice of People. Even after repeated representations to the Chairman and Managing Director, CPDCL, no steps have been taken towards writing off the amount, he alleged.

According to the G.O. issued on September 7 last year, cases against 88,318 domestic consumers in the State with 250 watts connected load should be withdrawn summarily while those against 18,094 domestic consumers with connected loads between 250 and 1,000 watts shall be waived on payment of a compounding amount of Rs.1,000 each.

Losses

However, the G.O. kept mum about the resultant losses to the tune of Rs.16 crore—an assessment amount of Rs.11.84 crore and a compounding fee amounting to Rs.4.42 crore-- to the distribution companies in the State. Instead it recommended that the loss be met “by bridging the gap by improving efficiency”.

Majority of the arrears are to CPDCL due to high pilferage rates in poorer districts such as Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Anantapur, Medak and Ranga Reddy. However, lack of any action from the department leaves the consumers perplexed about their status.

Interestingly, Superintendent Engineers from all the operation circles in the city say that they have not received any departmental order towards writing off the amounts.

Orders not received ?

Officials from Assessments wing, when asked about the status of the G.O., say that they have not yet received orders from the Commercial wing.

Office of the CGM, Commercial wing, when contacted, refused to provide clarification in this regard.

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