Power outfit in Odisha in crisis due to Rs.4000 crore pending dues; electricity cess may be hiked

Bhubaneswar, Feb 15: A huge amount of unpaid electric bills has plunged State electrical distribution system into a crisis.Pending  electric bill amounting to Rs 4000 crore now forces the department to be bankrupt before the World Bank. Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission(OERC) has recently proposed  for electricity duty hike from the customers. Accounting cost of power generation and distribution against annual cess , OERC has recorded continuous loss of the department. OERC views, a hike of electricity cess from the customers can make up the loss. Similarly, Odisha Hydro Power Corporation(OHPC) is in favour or OERC’s logic.    However, hike in electricity bill has been put on hold after the protest of the consumer’s confederations. Now the proposal is under public hearing on the table  of OERC. On the other hand, Central Electrical Supply Utility (CESU) has not collected Rs 4000 crore  revenue  from its customers. Lakhs of domestic consumers have not paid their electric bills since years. A large number of commercial outfits and institutions have huge amount of pending dues. Significantly, maximum amount of electric bills are pending with small and large scale industries from years together. All the defaulters are consuming power in their establishments due to lack of enforcement from the department. Years before, the department has privatized some essential units of its distribution and maintenance in order to regularise bills. But this solution has somehow failed. ENZEN utility was assigned the task. However,It was proved ineffective in achieving the target.  At present, Tata Power has been entrusted with power distribution, maintenance and bill collection in Central, South and West zones. Tata’s achievement in future  will redefine the future planning of the energy department of the state.