E-Paper
Bounced cheque? Pay penalty in next electricity bill
PUNE With the Pune circle of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) witnessing the highest number of cheque-bounce cases in the state, the MSEDCL has decided to charge a penalty of Rs885, including Goods Service Tax (GST), to be included in electricity bills of the subsequent month
PUNE With the Pune circle of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) witnessing the highest number of cheque-bounce cases in the state, the MSEDCL has decided to charge a penalty of Rs885, including Goods Service Tax (GST), to be included in electricity bills of the subsequent month.
According to the MSEDCL, out of the nearly 10,500 cheque-bounce cases reported each month, the Pune circle registers the highest (1,750); followed by the Kalyan (1,700); Bhandup (1,500); Nagpur (1,100); and Baramati circles (900). Despite an “online” payment facility being made available, approximately 4500 million consumers pay electricity bills through cheques, as per MSEDCL statistics. Among all the circles in the state, Pune has the highest number of consumers (108,000) paying bills via cheques; followed by Bhandup (104,000); and Kalyan (73,000). In sharp contrast, only 24 to 29,000 consumers from the Nashik, Kolhapur, Baramati and Nagpur circles pay their electricity bills through cheques.
Regarding the decision to impose a penalty, Sachin Talewar, chief engineer of MSEDCL’s Pune circle said, “The number of consumers paying their electricity bills through cheques is more in the Pune circle. Therefore, there are more cheque-bounce cases in Pune. Consumers in the low tension (LT) category tend to pay their bills via cheques unlike those in the high tension (HT) category who prefer the RTGS and NEFT modes of payment. Housing societies too pay bills through cheques as they want the documents as records. With some LT consumers intentionally doing this to delay payment of bills, the MSEDCL has decided to charge a penalty of Rs885 including GST as per the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) guidelines.”
