GUWAHATI: In a major crisis for the Assam Power Distribution Company
Ltd (APDLC), more than 40 lakh electricity consumers did not pay their
electricity bills for the month of July 2021.
The state Power Minister Bimal Bora speaking during the ongoing assembly session informed that a staggering amount of 40 percent of electricity consumers did not pay their bills, which is a major crisis for the APDCL.
Further stating the fact that the number of the total such electricity consumers who defaulted their bills was 24, 39, 730.
The Power Minister added that "As of July 31, 20,213 government organizations had to pay electricity bills of whopping around Rs. 77 crore."
Minister Bora further claimed that according to the decision taken by the State Cabinet, the state government paid the electricity bills of such defaulter consumers who used 30-unit electricity per month of the five months of this year each.
The power minister said that even though the APDCL has not incurred losses for the last two months, but it is a burden for the state exchequer.
"In the year 2020-21, the APDCL incurred a loss of Rs. 216 crore. During the year monthly loss of the Company was around Rs. 18 crores", Bora told the assembly.
The Power Minister also revealed that the Assam Power Generation Company Ltd.(AGPCL) incurred a monthly loss of Rs. 1.88 crore during the last fiscal year of 2020-2021 and that the Assam government spends Rs. 4.45 for buying per unit of electricity.
It may be mentioned that, Power Minister Bora in a written question by MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar replied that the Assam government is yet to prepare any plan to revive the Chandrapur Thermal Power Unit as its machinery in the power plant has turned obsolete.
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