Bhubaneswar: The Central Electricity Supply Utility (CECU), the power distribution company of Odisha has requested domestic consumers and commercial organisations to pay up the arrears bill to the tune of about Rs 1971 crore by January 15 failing which it will be forced to disconnect their power connection.
Briefing mediapersons here, CESU Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Arun Bothra said CESU has requested the people through the electronic and print media to pay up their arrears. The company will also send SMS to domestic consumers and commercial hubs like shops and mall in advance to pay their arrears bill.
The CEO said among the defaulters, 92 per cent are domestic consumers, 7.1 per cent are commercial hubs like shops and malls and the remaining are industrial units and other government and private offices.
“An arrears bill to the tune of Rs 1023 crore is pending with domestic consumers of which 1.04 lakh consumers are yet to pay to the tune of Rs 394 for more than two years. Besides, out of the total arrears bill, there are problems in the collection of Rs 209 crore of which Rs 108 crore relates to industrial units as the matter is sub judice,” Bothra said.
The CEO said that if the people and the commercial establishments do not pay up by January 14, CESU will begin its disconnection drive from January 15. Stating that CESU’s financial condition is not that encouraging, he said the power distribution company is keen on providing uninterrupted power to its consumers for which it needs to upgrade the infrastructure. “Unless we have money, we cannot upgrade the infrastructure,” he pointed out.
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