Power utility: Electricity dept launches drive against bigger fish

Supply to various consumers with over Rs50,000 dues cut off.

MIRPUR:

In a bid to recover over Rs250 million dues, the local electricity department launched a drive against defaulting consumers across Mirpur district.

As per the order of Operation Division Mirpur’s Executive Engineer Tahir Rattayal issued on Thursday, all sub-divisional officers are to initiate an “indiscriminate action” against the hundreds of electricity defaulters with over Rs50,000 in arrears.

Since May 22 was the deadline for recovery of the arrears, the electricity department has already disconnected drop wires and removed electricity meters from the premises of various defaulters, said a spokesperson of the electricity department. The official said the defaulters include domestic, commercial, as well as industrial consumers.

“This is the first leg of the recovery drive, and once these arrears are cleared, consumers with arrears less than Rs50,000 will be targeted,” the official added.

A local power defaulter, requesting anonymity, said the reason why people have not paid their dues for the past two or three months is that even after up to 16 hours of loadshedding in different areas of the district, they are being served exorbitantly high bills. “How is it possible to get bills in four and even five digits with up to 16 hours of loadsheddings?” he questioned.

The local electricity department has appealed to the electricity defaulters to pay their pending dues immediately and avert any unpleasant situation at the hands of the mobile recovery teams.

“We believe in serving the consumers in the best possible manner but at the same time we expect their full cooperation to enable us to ensure uninterrupted power supply,” said Ratayal, the executive engineer electricity of operation division Mirpur.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2012.