Tripura power bill dues soar to Rs 475 crore as half of consumers default

A Tripura government official stated that over half of a total of around 9 lakh consumers of the state government-run power utility Tripura State Electricity Corporation (TSECL) have not paid their electricity bills for several years. 

Only 4,32,045 consumers, mostly from the urban areas have paid their electricity bills. 

The trend has led to an accumulation of pending bills amounting to Rs 475 crore till now.

In tribal areas, most consumers skip paying electricity bills despite repeated appeals. This resulted in the accumulation of pending bills, the official said.

"The state has 9, 27,838 consumers. Of them, only 4,32,045 consumers pay monthly energy bills, around 40 per cent. Off late, the realisation of electricity bills has increased to around 45 per cent," TSECL Managing Director, Biswajit Bose, told PTI.

According to him, the bill payment in urban areas, including Agartala, appears satisfactory, but it seems disastrous in tribal dominated areas like Tulashikar, Hezamara, Mungiakami and Jatanbari.

"As of today, the amount of pending bills has stood at Rs 475 crore in the state. We are taking all possible steps to increase the collection of bills. TSECL teams are visiting the consumers and requesting them to clear their pending bills at the earliest. In some cases, we have started disconnecting electricity connections," he said.

Asserting that the TSECL has also been working to take legal action against hooking lines, mostly concentrated in tribal localities.

"More than 10,000 offenders had resorted to hooking the main power lines. The connections were disconnected last year, and fines up to Rs 3 crore were collected. We are trying to streamline the whole system," he said.

The state power utility company will arrange 372 MW power supply during the summer season -June, July and August, when the power consumption goes up in the northeastern state, Bose added.