'Recover Rs 322 cr from 7,000 top defaulters'

Haryana power distribution companies today asked its officials to gear up recovery efforts against as many as 7,000 top defaulters who owe Rs 322 crore to the state's power utilities.
In a meeting held here, Devender Singh, chairman and managing director of DHBVN and UHBVN asked officials to focus on consumers who are bigger defaulters and recover arrears.
Big defaulters are those who owe more than Rs 50,000 to power discoms.
Incidentally, state power utilities - Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam have about 10 lakh defaulters who have not paid to the tune of Rs 2,800 crore for the past several years.

However, Haryana power distribution companies have launched a settlement scheme for rural customers where a consumer having a load of one kilowatt, will have to pay only Rs 1,440 per year depending on the period of default, a spokesman said.
A defaulter consumer of rural domestic supply category can pay for only 40 units per month per kilowatt load for the entire period of default without any surcharge, he said, adding that customers will have to install power meters outside their houses.

If defaulters go for this scheme, then almost Rs 2,000 crore out of the total default of Rs 2,800 crore would stand waived off, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Singh appreciated efforts of power utilities, with the DHBVN earning an all time high of Rs 820.47 crore monthly revenue in July, which is 52 per cent higher than revenue received during the corresponding month of last year.
The newly introduced Performance Management System would be implemented strictly and administrative action would be taken against non-performing officials, Singh said.