Punjab: Rs 2,366 crore power bills pending against govt departments, on top electricity bill defaulter list

Subsidy bills of Rs 9,000 crore are also pending against the Punjab government as of date, the association said.

Sharing the details, the association said Rs 1,095 crore power bill is pending against the department of water supply and sanitation, Rs 718 crore against the department of local government, Rs 264 crore and Rs 100 crore are pending against rural development and panchayats, and health and family welfare departments, respectively.

Also, Rs 73 crore, Rs 34 crore and Rs 19 crore have been pending against sewerage board, irrigation department, and home affairs and jails department.

The association said the government should release sufficient amount to the departments for clearing their outstanding electricity bills and the secretary in-charge of the department concerned should ensure that the bills are cleared in a timely manner.

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The association suggested to the minister that instruction must be issued to all the government departments to pay their electricity dues, and one-time settlement scheme can be launched for the defaulting departments by PSPCL, said association general secretary Ajay Pal Singh Atwal.

He said the state departments must be encouraged to opt for prepaid metering and to further reduce the electricity bills, all the common departments must opt for solar net metering.

He said that the association, which has qualified engineers, is ready to help the government to streamline things. All these departments come under essential services, so their electricity connections cannot be disconnected, he added.

To provide reliable quality and cheap power to the people of the state, the association suggested to avail of the central scheme under which the Union Power Ministry has launched a revamped distribution sector scheme (RDSS) with the objective of improving the quality and reliability of power supply to consumers through a financially sustainable system. The scheme aims to reduce the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses like theft and default in payment, among others, significantly.

For Punjab the action plan amounting to Rs 25,237 crore is pending with the state finance department since December 2021 which should be expedited on an urgent basis, otherwise Punjab will lose investment (GOI grant) in power sector, the association informed Cheema.