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Will probe 261% rise in power bill arrears during BJP government: Maharashtra energy minister
In the cabinet meeting held on Thursday, the ministers were informed that the unrecovered power bill amount of the MSEDCL has increased to Rs59,102 crore by October end
The Maharashtra government will investigate the “unreasonable” rise in arrears of powers bills in the five years of the previous government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), state energy minister Nitin Raut said on Friday.
In the cabinet meeting held on Thursday, the ministers were informed that the unrecovered power bill amount of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has increased to Rs59,102 crore by October end. This means Rs36,992 crore was not recovered in the past five years, the officials said.
“By the end of March 2014, the unrecovered amount of power bills in the state was Rs14,154 crore which increased to Rs51,146 crore by the end of March this year. This issue was discussed in the state cabinet meeting. Following the directives of the CM, we are going to investigate the matter,” Raut said.
“The profit generated by the power company has reduced in the past five years. They (BJP) have made bogus claims that the financial position of MSEDCL has improved in the five years. Their credibility is in question now,” Raut said, taking on the Opposition party, which has declared to start a state-wide agitation against the state government for not providing relief to consumers from inflated power bills during the lockdown period of three months — April, May and June.
Raut said he would be happy if the BJP could agitate against the Centre, which is not ready to provide funds worth Rs10,000 crore sought by the state energy department.
“I have requested them to provide us Rs10,000 crore. They are yet to clear the state’s share of Rs28,000 crore in the Goods and Services Tax (GST). We are ready to provide relief to people if they (BJP) could bring back state’s money from the Centre,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state BJP unit clarified that the amount of unpaid power bills increased because of surge in power consumption owing to drought.
“Power consumption increased in the past four years as the state was reeling under drought. Consequently, the unrecovered amount of power bills also increased. But the then BJP government never cared about money and provided power to farmers according to their requirement. This is the reason why power consumption for agricultural activities increased by 60% in 2019,” said BJP spokesperson Vishwas Pathak, who is also former MSEDCL director.
Meanwhile, during Thursday’s meeting, the cabinet also cleared a proposal of an amnesty scheme to encourage farmers to clear power bill arrears, as around power bills of agricultural pumps used by the farmers to irrigate farms amount to Rs41,000 crore.
The energy minister had also said that the state has not shelved its plan to waive off the power bills up to 100 units to poor families and those living below the poverty line (BPL). He further said that the panel formed to give its recommendation on waiving off power bills up to 100 units could not meet due to the pandemic.
“We will ask the study group to submit its report to the state government. This move (to waive off bills up to 100 units) is likely to bring a financial burden of Rs6,000 crore on the state exchequer every year,” the energy minister said.
The state had planned to formulate a scheme on the lines of Delhi, where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had in 2019 announced 100% power bill waiver for households consuming up to 200 units of power in a month and subsidised bills for those consuming power between 201 and 400 units.
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