NOIDA: The Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL) has recovered over ₹3.64 crore from 1,778 consumers in its recently launched disconnection drive in the Gautam Budh Nagar district. The fortnight-long drive, which started on October 13, saw the power supply of more than 5,000 households disconnected as part of the process to recover dues.
Virendra Nath Singh, PVVNL chief engineer, said the disconnection drive is being undertaken to snap electricity connections of nearly 60,000 consumers who have not cleared their dues despite repeated reminders. “During the ongoing crackdown to reduce major power loss, our officials disconnected power supply to 5,004 consumers, who had not cleared electricity dues of ₹10.99 crore,” he said.
As on October 8, nearly 60,000 consumers owed dues amounting to ₹33.75 crore to PVVNL.
Singh also said that out of 5,004 disconnected power lines, 1,148 are from urban areas of Noida.
“Electricity supply to 3,856 consumers in rural areas was disconnected on Wednesday as they have not cleared dues of ₹8.48 crore despite repeated reminders. It is appreciable that our officials have recovered more than ₹1.94 crore from 1,028 consumers in only five days from rural areas, where recovery rates are very low,” he said.
The chief engineer also said that no untoward incident has taken place during the disconnection drive so far as the PVVNL raiding teams were assisted by local police to avert any resistance from the defaulting consumers, particularly in the rural areas.
The power distribution company has also decided to regularly inspect electricity meters of heavy load connections, as it is the main reason for mounting AT&C (Aggregate Technical and Commercial) loss. The overall line loss in Noida is about 17.8%, officials said.
“Despite being the biggest revenue-generating power region, the line loss has mounted due to power theft in areas coming under 60 identified electricity feeders. We have taken these areas on priority for launching a crackdown on power thieves, besides launching disconnection drives,” Singh said.
