KPDCL serves notices to consumers found hooking, meter bypassing

Srinagar, May 28:  Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) Tuesday warned its consumers to desist from illegal power usage, failing which permanent disconnections with the recovery of the unaccounted energy consumed shall be effected including registration of FIRs, under the Electricity Act.

KPDCL has also started serving notices to the consumers found using power illegally by way of hooking and meter bypassing, with copies sent to the concerned Police Station for registration of FIRs.

A KPDCL spokesman in a statement issued here said that the inspection squads were vigorously patrolling on a roster basis and mapping all those consumers found hooking on bare conductors, meter tampering and bypassing and exceeding sanctioned load in flat-rated areas.

“To thwart attempts of large-scale power pilferage, inspection squads have been manning all sections at Subdivision level to prevent consumers from using power illegally,” he said.

The spokesman said that over 1.90 lakh inspection and disconnection drives had been conducted by KPDCL field staff over the last 6 months and a large number of consumers had been caught using power unauthorisedly.

“Against recovery on account of energy consumed illegally worth Rs 27.74 crore, Rs 11.04 crore have been realised,” he said. “The non-payment of dues on account of illegal use of energy is being reflected in the power bills against those consumers who have failed to deposit.”

The KPDCL said that FIRs were being registered and more applications were being moved with names and consumer IDs of such consumers caught either hooking, bypassing, or tampering with meters.

Highlighting the role of the centralised and fully autonomous central inspection squad of the KPDCL, the spokesman said that 4110 inspections had been conducted over the past 6 months and a large number of meter tampering cases had been detected.

“A total of 82 confirmed cases of meter tampering have been reported for registration of FIRs under the Electricity Act by CIS,” he said. “All these consumers will be remotely disconnected permanently.” Laying stress on the revision of sanctioned load in flat-rated areas till these are smart-metered under the premier Loss Reduction Scheme of RDSS, the spokesman said that the load of the consumers was being enhanced in a calibrated manner, in an attempt to bring down AT&C losses.

He said that a large number of consumers were far exceeding their sanctioned loads, sometimes even by 4 to 5 times, which was adversely affecting the billing efficiency of KPDCL.

The KPDCL spokesman advised its consumers to use electricity judiciously, which would go a long way in providing a reliable and quality power supply to all its consumers.

He also urged the domestic consumers to avail the waiver on late payment surcharge under the government’s power amnesty scheme which would remain in force till March 31, 2025.