Over 30,000 consumers admit to faulty meters under VDS

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, January 17

Over 11,000 electricity consumers in Kurukshetra district, the highest among various districts under the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN), have submitted that their meters were tampered with or defective.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that till December 31, the UHBVN had collected Rs 7.08 crore from 30,500 consumers from 10 districts under its ambit.

The power utility recovered Rs 4.61 crore from consumers in Kurukshetra alone under the voluntary disclosure scheme (VDS).

Sources said 12,866 consumers had come forward with disclosures under the VDS in Ambala (Panchkula district is its part) and Yamunanagar circles but no amount was received till the first deadline of December 31. However, the state government has extended the deadline till January 31 for VDS and another surcharge waiver scheme for small domestic and non-domestic consumers.

As both schemes are operational since November 20, the department hoped to receive more disclosures in the next two weeks.

The sources said after demonetisation, the state government gave a window to the power bill defaulters to deposit banned currency of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500. The step was intended to recover the power distribution companies from heavy losses due to non-payment of bills, an official claimed.

Under the VDS, consumers are being charged nominally, instead of twice the tariff along with compounding charges.

Consumers have the option to deposit bills in lump sum or maximum six bi-monthly instalments, payable along with the next six bills, says an UHBVN official.

Officials also claim that surcharge-waiver scheme for small domestic and non-domestic consumers have also yielded desired results.

One-time waiver plan was launched for such consumers who did not pay their outstanding bill for a long time. As per official data, Rs 60 crore came from 63,606 consumers from 10 districts for conditional surcharge-free scheme till the end of December.

A total of 9,667 power users from Rohtak district opted for the scheme and deposited Rs 10.86 crore with the UHBVN. Similarly, 7,457 consumers from Jhajjar deposited Rs 9.34 crore. Kurukshetra saw 3,892 consumers gave the state power department a sum of Rs 2.23 crore.

VS Mann, Superintendent Engineer, Kurukshetra circle, said subscribers should avail benefits of the schemes to fulfil the state government’s vision of providing 24-hour power supply in Haryana.