Discom waives 2.5% surcharge to recover power bills of ₹4,696 cr

Gurugram: In an attempt to recover ₹4,696 crore in power bills from nearly 11.7 lakh consumers, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (DHBVN) has come up with an offer of waiving surcharge so that consumers can clear their pending bills, officials said.

Discom officials said that under the scheme which was launched earlier this week, the monthly surcharge of 2.5% on pending energy bills will be waived off.

Besides, these consumers will also be given an additional benefit of 10% discount on the bill amount if paid together.

The total pending amount is more than the revenue gap reported by the two discoms in the last financial year, officials said.

A total revenue gap of ₹4,520 crore was reported by the Dakshin and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited earlier this year following which they had increased tariff by 20 paisa to 40 paisa per unit in different consumer categories in April this year. This was an increment made after seven years, they said.

Discom officials said that consumers who are into litigation over pending bills before any court or other forum, should withdraw their cases to get the benefits offered.

A senior DHBVN official, requesting anonymity, said that Gurugram is among the top four cities, catered to by DHBVN, which has the maximum numbers of defaulters.

“There are overall 70,082 consumers of various categories in Gurugram’s circle-I and II who owe ₹416.6 crore to the discom in the form of pending energy bills,” he said.

Officials said that when bifurcated, circle-I has 33,732 defaulting consumers owing ₹ 91.48 crore while circle-II has 36,350 such consumers and their defaulting bill amount is ₹325.11 crores.

DHBVN managing director, A Sreeniwas, who is also the Haryana power department secretary, said that all categories of consumers including domestic, commercial, urban, rural, agricultural, industrial, government and municipal bodies, even if they have faced disconnection, can avail the benefits of the scheme.

“The scheme will continue for six months. All those who were defaulters till August 31, 2024 or continue to be in the list with active connections, are eligible for the scheme which will continue till November 11,” he said.

Officials said that domestic consumers have the option to clear the pending bills in eight or four bi-monthly installments while agricultural consumers can clear it in three billing cycles which are of four months each.