KPDCL tightens noose against erring consumers

Srinagar, Nov 25: In order to provide relief to the genuine consumers, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) has escalated its night patrolling and inspection drives to tighten noose against erring consumers who indulge in widespread hooking, violation of agreed load and bypassing of the meters.
KPDCL also collected a revenue of Rs.29.89 crore from consumers over the last 4 days amidst scaled up drives to check energy pilferage that primarily results in outages and damage to transformers, thus brining hardships upon genuine consumers. A revenue of Rs.9.18 crore as pending arrear dues were collected on Friday alone by the Corporation.
Giving details, a KPDCL spokesperson Saturday stated that out of 1153 inspections carried out in Kashmir Division, 98 were conducted in Circle I Srinagar, 233 in Circle II Srinagar, 367 in Circle Ganderbal, 140 in Circle Pulwama, 142 in Circle Bijbehara and 154 in Circle Sopore. Around 228 KW load was added across the 6 Circles of the Corporation during these drives.
Penalty of Rs. 7.81 lakh was also imposed on those who were unauthorisedly using power in terms of Section 126 of the Electricity Act.
The spokesperson further stated that another 1117 domestic, commercial and industrial connections were also disconnected for non-payment of energy dues which were pending for more than three months. This includes 886 domestic, 212 commercial and 17 industrial consumers.
Meanwhile, 62 Domestic Transformers (DTs) were also reported damaged on Friday due to overloading, up from 52 reported on Thursday. KPDCL also repaired and replaced 61 transformers on Friday, to comply with the directions issued for replacement of the damaged DTs.
The spokesman expressed concern over the steady procession of damaged DTs at Central Workshop Pampore and the divisional workshops of KPDCL, thus putting strain on meeting the timelines fixed by the Government.
In an attempt to collect pending energy dues, KPDCL realized a revenue of Rs. 29.89 crore from the consumers, including Rs.9.18 crore on Friday. The corporation requested its consumers to pay their pending bills or the Corporation will be left with no option but to disconnect their power supply.