Farmers are not the only category of consumers who are not paying MSEDCL’s bills. The local bodies, urban as well as rural, which use power for lighting streetlights and operating water works are also major defaulters.
According to MSEDCL sources, the total dues owed by local bodies till October 2020 was Rs7,208 crore. Alarmed over the continuous rise in dues, MSEDCL has written to the state finance department to deposit the entire fifteenth finance commission funds meant for streetlights and water supply, to it.
MSEDCL used to get 50% of fourteenth finance commission funds under these heads but still the dues kept on increasing. Therefore, this time it has demanded the entire amount.
An MSEDCL officer said local bodies did not pay for streetlights and water works as they knew that the company could not disconnect them. “The financial condition of most local bodies is very poor and this is also the reason for non-payment of bills,” he added.
Leniency towards farmers by former energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule caused MSEDCL dearly as its arrears increased from Rs14,000 crore in March 2014 to a whopping Rs51,000 crore in March 2020. As many people have not paid their power bills, the figure rose by another Rs6,000 crore after March 2020.
Sources in MSEDCL said of the Rs14,000 crore, about Rs10,040 crore were owed by farmers only. Similarly, of the Rs51,000 crore, about Rs40,160 crore were due to agricultural consumers.
If this was not enough, many residential and commercial consumers have also not paid their bills this year. The arrears owed by non-agricultural consumers to MSEDCL in March 2020 was Rs2,726 crore. This figure shot up to Rs6,829 crore in September, which translates into an increase of 150% or 2.5 times the March figure.
MSEDCL had sent average bills during the lockdown period. During summer in spite of use of air-conditioners and air coolers, people got low bills. However, when readings were taken in July and August, the accumulated consumption was very high and people got bills in thousands. Most felt cheated and many did not pay bills.
