LT power bill defaulters to face risk of permanent disconnection

In a recent circular, Tangedco’s commercial wing chief engineer has directed the field officials to issue a termination of the agreement notice to those consumers whose LT service connection remains disconnected for a period of three months for non-payment of power consumption charges.

“When a service connection remains disconnected for more than six months for non-payment of electricity current consumption charges beyond the notice period of three months and the consumer does not come forward for reconnection, a permanent dismantling estimate may be prepared and got sanctioned from the concerned officers,” it said.

It directed the official that the accounts should be closed with proper intimation to the consumer after adjusting all the arrears of current consumption charges and other electricity charges against the security deposit or any other deposit made by the consumer.

Balance, if any, should be refunded to the consumer, it said, adding that in cases where the outstanding dues are found to be more than the security deposit or any other deposit made by the consumer, action might be initiated to recover the dues in the alternative ways as provided in the regulations and accounts might be closed after full recovery of all outstanding arrears.

The circular said that the meters in the permanently dismantled service should be released immediately and handed over to MRT wing for testing them. “After obtaining MRT test certificate, the released meters under permanent dismantling may be sent to stores for accounting and reuse,” it said.

A senior Tangedco official said that till now, if the consumer failed to pay the bill the service connection would only remain disconnected for months together. “Now we will dismantle the service connection if the bill remains unpaid even after six months, and three months after issuance of the termination notice. 

If the consumer wants the power supply after the dismantling of the connection, he/she should apply for the new connecting paying all the charges required for it,” the official said.