JK PDD imposes Rs 15.03 cr penalty on erring consumers till Feb this year: Officials

STATE TIMES NEWS

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department (PDD) conducted 1,66,134 inspections and imposed a penalty of Rs 15.03 crore on erring consumers across the Union Territory till February this year, officials said on Sunday.
They said the department also recovered Rs 54.92 crore in the shape of arrears from both domestic and commercial consumers during this period.
“The department has conducted 1,66,134 inspections across the Union Territory, thereby imposing a penalty of Rs 15.03 crore and making 1,33,534 disconnections of erring customers till February this year,” Principal Secretary, Power Development Department (PDD), Rajesh Prasad said.
He said the gap between average cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realised (ARR) for the year 2022-23 was Rs 1.79, which is going to be further minimised to Rs 1.60 in the next fiscal and to Rs 0.58 by 2025-26.
As far as bringing efficiency in the distribution system, the department will implement projects worth Rs 5,641 crore sanctioned by the central government under the revamped distribution sector scheme (RDSS) to install smart meters to the tune of Rs 1,046.71 crore and carry out other loss reduction work to the tune of Rs 4,595.20 crore, Prasad said. The completion of these projects will greatly reduce the ATandC losses further, thereby making additional energy available to the department for providing round the clock quality power supply to consumers across J-K, he said.