Electricity Supply Of 36,139 Consumers Disconnected In Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad Areas For Non-Payment Of Bills

Mrunal Jadhav

Pune, February 18, 2021: Due to non-payment of overdue electricity bills despite repeated appeals, the financially strapped MSEDCL has initiated action to cut off the power supply to domestic, commercial and industrial arrears in the Pune zone who have not paid any electricity bill for 10 consecutive months. So far, the power supply to 36,139 arrears in rural areas as well as Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad has been cut off due to arrears of Rs 89.55 crore.

Meanwhile,  97,413 customers who had not paid a single electricity bill since April last year have paid Rs 145.75 crore so far. In order to facilitate the payment of overdue electricity bills, all the official electricity bill payment centres of MSEDCL in Pune Circle will remain open from Friday (19th) to Sunday (21st) during office hours on public holidays.

MSEDCL, which is financially dependent on the recovery of electricity bills, is no longer able to meet the cost of power purchase, daily maintenance and repair costs, loan installments, contractors’ debts and establishment costs. Therefore, strict action has been taken to cut off the power supply. At present, 10,08,776 domestic, commercial and industrial customers in Pune circle are in arrears of Rs 819.71 crore. Of this, 8,49,990 domestic customers owe Rs 505.23 crore, 1,38,648 commercial customers owe Rs 211.70 crore and 20,138 industrial customers owe Rs 102.77 crore.

In Pune Circle, action has been initiated against domestic, commercial and industrial customers who have not paid any electricity bill since April 1, 2020. The power supply to the arrears has been cut off. The action includes 13650 domestic, 20233 commercial and 2256 industrial customers. In addition, there is a good response to the payment of overdue electricity bills. In the last 17 days, 97,413 customers in the Pune circle have paid Rs 145.75 crore in arrears. Of this, 66,179 domestic customers paid Rs 55.59 crore, 28,005 commercial customers paid Rs 63.80 crore and 3229 industrial customers paid Rs 26.36 crore.