13,179 connections added in 3 months, 11,450 disconnected: KPDCL

Srinagar, July 8: Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) has added 13,719 fresh connections to its domestic consumer base of 9.81 lakh, adding a load of 7.5 MW in the system.

A KPDCL spokesman in a statement issued here said that to curb power theft and bring down losses, 55,321 inspection drives were carried out by Kashmir DISCOM from April to June this year.

He said that vigorous enforcement drives were being undertaken on a daily basis at the sub-divisional level to crack down on incidents of power pilferage, primarily by hooking and bypassing meters in urban areas and exceeding the sanctioned load in rural areas.

“Strict directions have been given to SDOs to recover dues for energy unauthorisedly consumed, raise Writ of Demand and present their cases for the imposition of penalty before the designated courts,” the KPDCL spokesman said, adding those found using electricity unauthorisedly would be dealt with an iron hand.

Giving details, the spokesman said 1949 new connections were added in Kulgam, 1630 in Budgam, 1269 in Sopore, 982 in Anantnag, 935 in Tangmarg, 843 in Ganderbal, 812 in Shopian, 747 in Awantipora, and 611 in Bijbehara Electric Division.

He said that apart from this, KDPCL has also intensified action against tampering of smart meters with several FIRs registered in concerned Police Stations.

“Nearly 600 applications have been filed for registration of FIRs for smart meter tampering and other thefts like hooking,” the spokesman said.

Expressing concern over unauthorised use of electricity by consumers, he said that even in peak summer months, reports of damage to distribution transformers were being received from some parts of Kashmir.

“KPDCL advises its consumers to avoid using crude heating gadgets like heaters and boilers, which have been banned by the Government,” he said.

The spokesman said that KPDCL had disconnected 11,450 consumers for non-payment of pending dues during the first quarter of the current financial year.

“This includes 8655 domestic, 2697 commercial, 94 hoteliers, and 34 industrial units. Outstanding arrears amounting to Rs 43.26 crore have also been recovered from the consumers,” he said. Urging the consumers to ignore rumours of tariff hike, the spokesman said that KPDCL had not hiked electricity tariffs in metered or non-metered areas.

However, he said that calibrated rationalisation of load as per actual consumption in unmetered areas was being carried out by all electric subdivisions, following supply code regulations.