62 booked in Jalna for stealing power after disconnection

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The MSEDCL has launched a special campaign to expose power theft after temporary disconnection of power supply in 62 cases has been detected in villages from Ambad taluka of Jalna district.The state power utility has registered an offence against all these errant consumers under the Section 135 of the Electricity Act, 2003. Superintending engineer of Jalna, Sanjay Sarg on Sunday said the consumers who faced action include domestic consumers, commercial and industrial users including roadside hotels, eateries."These consumers collectively owed outstanding electricity bill arrears amounting to Rs19,51,265. As they failed to respond to repeated reminders to clear their dues, their power supply was disconnected a few months ago. However, they stole 60,801 units of electricity even after that," he said. According to MSEDCL, the value of the stolen electricity amounts to a staggering Rs10,15,200. Comprising electricity bill arrears of nearly 20 lakhs and the Rs10 lakhs worth of stolen electricity, these consumers have caused a total loss of Rs 30 lakhs to the state power utility.Stating that the detection drive is set to continue across the region, MSEDCL authorities have appealed to all electricity consumers to clear their outstanding electricity bill arrears and to utilize electricity only after obtaining an authorized connection."Some consumers have adopted a strategy of refusing to pay their electricity bills and resort to stealing electricity when their power supply is temporarily disconnected. Drawing unauthorised power is an offence and attracts criminal action. Teams comprising engineers, technical staff, and officials from the Human Resources and Accounts departments are keeping watch on errant consumers," Dnyaneshwar Ardad, public relations officer for the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar zone of MSEDCL, said.