BHUBANESWAR: The arrear collection-cumdisconnection drive undertaken by Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) has paid a rich dividend with realisation of Rs 4.86 crore pending bills on the third day. The power distribution company (discom) has collected a whopping Rs 14.91 crore arrears from defaulting consumers in three days of the drive.
With disconnection of power supply to 1,622 commercial consumers on Saturday, a total 5,123 consumers were hit by CESU’s action. The disconnection drive in all the 20 divisions of the discom is incident free.
As many as 480 special squads reached the premises of 10,805 defaulting commercial establishments on Saturday and a majority of defaulting consumers came forward to clear their dues either in part or full. "As many as 1,622 commercial consumers did not clear their arrears even after our request. We are left with no choice but to snap power supply to them," said CESU senior manager (HR) Subrat Mishra.
The collection on Saturday does not include the online payments made by the consumers. The discom has received applications from 2,410 consumers for revision of their bills while 5,387 consumers have opted for making payment in instalments.
The collection counters were opened from early morning to late evening on Saturday and will also remain open on Sunday for facilitating consumers clear their pending bills, Mishra added. The special squad operating at Chhatia Bazar in Jajpur district traced 14 unauthorised power consumers. Their connection were regularised after payment.
While appreciating the cooperation of 6,773 commercial consumers who cleared their arrears either in full or part, the CESU authorities once again appealed the defaulters to pay their billas and avoid disconnection.
The company said that commercial consumers of CDA and Bidanasi sections of Cuttack and Unit-6 in Bhubaneswar have cleared their dues in full on the third day of the drive.
CESU has a massive arrear of Rs 1,971 crore against different categories of consumers of which more than Rs 1,023 crore are pending against domestic consumers who constitute 92 per cent of the total defaulters.