11,397 Odisha Villages To Go Dark As Power Utility Decides To Pull Plug On Defaulters

Bhubaneswar: Hit by pending electricity dues, the Central Electricity Supply Utility Supply (CESU) of Odisha has decided to disconnect power supply of consumers who are yet to clear their dues.

CESU CEO, Arun Bothra today informed that a special drive will be launched from January 16 to disconnect power supply of defaulters. The senior official informed that 11, 397 villages have been identified and the disconnection drive will be launched in 20 divisions across Odisha.

Moreover, 413 squads have been formed to carry out the disconnection from January 16.

“We do not want to disconnect power supply but we have no option if people continue to default on their dues,” said Bothra.

According to Bothra, of the total 7 lakh defaulters, nearly 1.10 lakh consumers have cleared their dues so far and a total of Rs 21 crore has been collected.

Already notices have been served to individuals and other domestic and commercial users who are in the defaulters’ list. As per official sources, over 8 lakh domestic, 59,000 commercial establishments, 5,965 government offices, 73,000 other category consumers (agriculture, industries etc) have been served notices to clear their pending dues.

If a consumer, who has an arrear bill of less than Rs 25,000, pays 30 % of the total arrears, he/she can pay the balance arrears in three instalments. For an arrear above Rs 25,000 and below Rs 50,000, following an upfront payment of 30%, the rest can be paid in four instalments.

A domestic or commercial consumer can avail an option to pay balance money in six instalments after paying 30% of the total arrears above Rs 50,000.

“An amount of nearly Rs 64 crore is pending against several government departments and already the State government has assured to clear the bills by March 31. The departments will be asked to clear their electricity dues on monthly basis from April onwards,” Bothra added.