CESU announces January 15 deadline for electricity bill defaulters in Odisha

After notice by CESU to wilful defaulters, 1.10 lakh consumers have cleared dues amounting to Rs 21 crore.
Image for representational purposes (Express Illustration)
Image for representational purposes (Express Illustration)

BHUBANESWAR:  The Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) on Thursday issued an ultimatum to defaulting consumers asking them to clear their arrears by January 15 to avoid disconnection of power supply.

Reminding the December 10 decision of CESU, Chief Executive Officer of CESU Arun Bothra said the utility will start power disconnection drive from January 16 as a punitive measure to discourage deliberate default in payment of electricity bills. 

"CESU has issued disconnection notices to 8.36 lakh domestic consumers and 59,190 commercial consumers for arrears amounting to Rs 1,251 crore and Rs 243 crore respectively. In response to the notice, around 1.10 lakh consumers have cleared their dues amounting to Rs 21 crore," Bothra told a media conference here.

Government departments, autonomous bodies and public sector units are the major defaulters with an arrear of Rs 64.35 crore. “The State Government has assured to deposit all pending bills of 5,965 government consumers amounting to Rs 64.35 crore by March 31,” he added.

The senior IPS officer said 413 special squads have been constituted for the drive and on an average a squad will cover three to four villages. The disconnection drive will be undertaken in 11,397 villages under 20 electrical divisions of CESU area of operation.The power utility, CESU, has a consumer base of over 27 lakh spread over of nine districts of Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Dhenkanal, Angul, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh and parts of Jajpur.

“We do not intend to trouble our consumers by snapping power. Our objective is to provide quality power uninterruptedly. But, we are left with no option when consumers deliberately default in payment of energy bills,” Bothra said.Bothra said CESU will provide installment facility to consumers having huge pending bills. 

Consumers having arrears upto Rs 25,000 will get the facility on payment of minimum 30 per cent of the pending bill. The balance amount could be cleared in three installments. In case of arrear up to Rs 50,000 and more, the defaulters will be given scope to clear their outstanding in four and six installments respectively, he added. Recently, Minister of State for Energy DS Mishra had authorised all the four distribution companies including NESCO, SOUTHCO and WESCO to take tough action against willful defaulters.

Facilitating consumers

  • Have arrears up to Rs 25,000, pay 30 per cent of pending bill, avail power connection 

  • Clear balance amount in three installments

  • Arrears of Rs 50,000 and more, clear outstanding in four and six installments after paying 30 pc of pending bill

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