TIRUPATI: While consumers are burdened with power bills and penalties on delayed payments, the bills of various government departments and related entities in the erstwhile Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur and Nellore districts are pending for long.
Their payment dues to the Southern Power Distribution Company (AP-SPDPCL) have risen to a whopping Rs 5,146 crore as on June 30, 2022.
SPDCL is faced with a tough time as these entities at all levels – corporations, municipalities and gram panchayats and other departments and offices—are simply buying time on one or other pretext, vis-à-vis payment of the bills.
DISCOM officials said several pleas and correspondences with these entities did not produce the desired results.
The state government has accorded permission to deduct at source the dues from the Panchayat Raj Department, which is the main defaulter. Yet, its arrears in the payments continued to only grow.
According to SPDCL officials, there are nearly 1,16,681 electricity connections (corporations, municipalities, panchayats and the irrigation department) in these five erstwhile districts. They are mostly not paying power bills for the past few years. Altogether, they owe Rs 5,146 crore to the SPDCL, including a surcharge amount of Rs 1,971 crore, as on June 30, 2022.
Notably, the APERC launched a one-time settlement scheme for all government entities including the civic bodies, to pay their electricity dues with a waiver of the surcharge.
In a fresh appeal, the SPDCL has urged the defaulters to pay the arrears in full on or before September 10, 2022 to avail the surcharge waiver offer.
As per official reports, various government bodies in Tirupati district have outstanding bills of Rs 865.23 crore. This includes a surcharge of about Rs 351.29 crore. On condition that the surcharge is waived, they will have to pay only Rs 513.94 crore.
Similarly, government offices, which have outstanding bills of Rs 18.81 crore, need pay only Rs 13.74 crore, post deduction of the surcharge amount of Rs 5.07 crore.
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