LUCKNOW: Expressing his displeasure over the slow revenue recovery during the special one-time settlement (OTS) scheme in UPPCL for speedy recovery of pending bills, energy minister Shrikant Sharma warned senior officials of the corporation that their annual performance would be assessed on the basis of revenue recovery in their discoms.
“It is unfortunate that when the OTS scheme is almost coming to an end on March 31, in most of the discoms the recovery has been around 20%, barring a few, and it is unacceptable,” the minister said.
In a review meeting chaired by Sharma on Saturday, UPPCL authorities informed the members that baring Kanpur Electricity Supply Company (KESCO), the four other discoms had failed to register even 40% of the defaulters under the OTS scheme.
KESCO recorded 57.4 % registration of consumers for OTS, while discoms like Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (PuVVNL) recorded 17%, the lowest among all. According to UPPCL, PVVNL managed to register 35% power bill defaulters, DVVNL 20% and MVVNL 17%. Under MVVNL, the Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration (LESA), there are close to 1.82 lakh power defaulters who owe Rs 172 crore to the discom, however only 30% have registered themselves for OTS.
After going through the data, the minister expressed his displeasure over the discoms’ poor performance. “Officials need to promote OTS among the masses and motivate them to register themselves to get waiver on the interest levied on the power bill and clear all dues by March 31. The discom authorities should also readdress complaints of consumers with regard to discrepancies in bill and build confidence,” said the power minister.
“Also, I warn that the major defaulters with over Rs 1 lakh dues must be tapped by the discom officials for their bill recovery. Since their number is less as compared to the minor defaulters of less than Rs 1 lakh, by fetching them under the OTS scheme by knocking their doors, UPPCL can get major funds,” the minister said.
The energy minister had announced a special OTS scheme for the power consumers to get their surcharge 100% waived by depositing their pending arrears by March 15. The date was then extended to March 31.