Assam Loses Rs 300 Crore Every Month Due To Power Theft, Defaults

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said the state is losing revenue worth close to Rs 300 crore every month due to non-payment of electricity bills and power theft. In a meeting with the three government-run power companies - Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL), Assam Power Generation Corporation Ltd (APGCL) and Assam Electricity Grid Corporation (AEGCL) - in Guwahati, Mr Sarma said the government is planning to bring down the hammer on illegal power consumption.

"Some fraudulent consumers adopted dubious methods to save electricity bills causing huge loss of revenue to APDCL. To recover this loss and to pay for power purchase, APDCL is compelled to approach the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission to increase the rate of energy tariff. The public in general have to bear the brunt of this increased rate in electricity tariff as the resultant load of the loss generated from the defaulting consumers is compensated from the general public," Mr Sarma said.

Asking the power companies to increase vigil against such defaulters and illegal consumers, Mr Sarma asked APDCL to prepare a profile of the defaulting consumers.

He asked the companies to make a list of cement companies and other high-value consumers, tally their production or services with GST returns and electricity bills.

"This exercise will help in bringing in semblance between total quantum of electricity consumed and electricity bills thus paid," Mr Sarma said in the meeting.

He said the department has started the process to identify defaulters and those adopting illegal means to cause loss to the power department.

"We are taking help of Gujarat electricity department and trying to take help of the best practices they adopted to reduce loss and increase revenue from power supply," he said.