Govt Of J&K Extends Amnesty Scheme for Domestic Electricity Consumers For 1 More Year
The Administrative Council, chaired by Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor, met in Jammu and approved the extension of the Amnesty Scheme-2022 until March 31, 2025, benefiting domestic consumers of electricity.
Attendees at the meeting included Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor; Atal Dulloo, Chief Secretary, J&K; and Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor.
The scheme aims to waive 100% interest/surcharge on outstanding principal amounts. In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, domestic consumers represent over 86% of JKPDD consumers, with this category accounting for approximately 50% of the total energy consumption in the UT.
However, approximately 30% of domestic consumers (around 5.50 lakh) are either making staggered payments or have not made any payments towards their electricity bills. This is primarily due to the significant accumulation of outstanding power dues, including late payment surcharges/interest, resulting in high commercial losses to JKPDD/Discoms.
The Amnesty Scheme has already led to the recovery of Rs. 235.58 crore from domestic consumers. Under the scheme, domestic consumers will benefit from the waiver of surcharge amounts and the option to pay the principal amount in affordable installments (EMIs).
The implementation of this scheme is expected to enable the government/DISCOMS to recover the outstanding principal amounts, consequently reducing the ARR/ACS gap and positively impacting the reduction of AT&C losses.
