Government departments in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) continue to be the biggest electricity defaulters, people aware of the matter said and added that total arrears of the UPPCL had more than doubled in the last one decade, reaching a whopping over ₹50,000 crore in March 2022.
The urban development department, among all the government departments, is the biggest defaulter with 70% of the total listed government dues pending against it.
“Arrears of ₹21,669 crore were pending against two government departments alone on March 31, 2022. There has been no significant change in the status since,” said a senior UPPCL official while quoting from the ‘Statistics At A Glance: 2021-22’ an annual publication brought out by the UPPCL.
The one-week drive launched by the UP Power Corporation Ltd’ (UPPCL) to connect to MLAs, MP, Mayors and to take their services, among other things, to recover dues from consumers ended on Sunday.
Incidentally, energy minister AK Sharma, who repeatedly appeals to consumers to pay their bills regularly on time, is the minister for urban development too. According to a UPPCL’s annual report, ₹14,855 of total ₹21,669 crore government arrears are against the urban development department.
The water works & sewage and public lighting wings under the urban development department have dues of ₹10,688 crore and ₹4,167 crore respectively, officials said.
{{/usCountry}}The water works & sewage and public lighting wings under the urban development department have dues of ₹10,688 crore and ₹4,167 crore respectively, officials said.
{{/usCountry}}The other government department and major defaulter is agriculture that has arrears of ₹6,814 crore pending against public tube wells and pump canals.
“Though government departments do make budgetary provision for payment of electricity bills, they either spend the budget on other heads or clear in the end of the year affecting UPPCL’s liquidity,” another official said.
“The urban development department remains the worst when it comes to clearing its monthly bills,” this official said.
Neither energy and urban development minister AK Sharma nor additional chief secretary, urban development, Amrit Abhijat were available for comment on the issue.
The UPPCL’s annual report also put the total non-government dues at ₹28,755 crore and 19,380 crore of them are pending against the domestic (residential) consumers who account for around 80% of the total consumers in the state. Private tube wells used by farmers are another big defaulter with ₹3,809 crore arrears pending them. Commercial consumers in the state also owe dues of ₹3,185 crore to the UPPCL.
“The problem is the tendency among both non-government and government consumers of not paying their bills regularly. This affects the UPPCL’s ability to buy power from generating companies and invest in system strengthening projects,” the official pointed out.
Some of the non-government dues, especially against domestic consumers, it is believed, may be fictitious too and hence not recoverable.