Power theft: JPDCL imposes Rs.40 lakh fine against erring consumers
In an attempt to reduce gulf between power supplied and revenue realized in Jammu and Kashmir, the Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) teams conducted multiple raids in the city and imposed a fine of over Rs.40 lakhs against erring consumers for power theft and unauthorized usage.
In the recent monsoon session of the parliament, the Union Minister of Power had informed the parliament that the electricity distribution companies (DISCOMS) including Jammu Power Development Corporation Limited (JPDCL) and Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited (KPDCL) has over dues of Rs.9369 crores. An official of PDD attributed these overdues to huge gap between power purchases and revenue collection. He informed that they buying electricity of worth more than Rs.6,300 Crores every year but the revenue realisation is around 2,700 cores.
In last three years, the Jammu and Kashmir has spent Rs.18,447 crore on power purchases.
As per a spokesperson, the JPDCL teams led by Assistant Executive Engineer Nitin Mahajan conducted raids in various area including Hari Vihar, Digiana, Govind Nagar, Uttam Nagar Kunjwani, Jawahar Nagar, Raipur Satwari, Deli among others of city’s south under Electric Division-II, Gandhi Nagar.
The teams disconnect illegal connections and imposed huge penalties on consumers involved in power theft at various areas. “553 households were inspected and people were made aware of the rules and regulations of the department. Penalty amounting to Rs.40.07 Lacs has been imposed on erring consumers involved in power theft,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesman said that the Enforcement Team of JPDCL Gangyal carried out routine random inspections in various areas under the jurisdiction of the sub-division and especially in areas having high transformer damage rate. During the inspections, illegal hooking is removed as it is the main reason behind transformer damage.
Also, the team accesses the load of the consumers in the areas and according to the electrical devices installed in the households, the load of the consumer is revised. A total of 1400 KW load has been revised during various drives by JPDCL Gangyal.
During the drives, the consumers are informed that Power theft is the main cause of damage of Distribution Transformers and are encouraged to disclose the proper load of their households as it will help the department in installing adequate capacity transformers in their areas. JPDCL has taken the lead in providing online billing services to the consumers and consumers are encouraged to pay their bills online to avoid standing in long queues in banks.
