Non-Payment of Bills a Major Reason for Power Curtailments, KPDCL

Power Department Struggles with Timely Payments from Consumers

The Power Development Department (PDD) is facing a significant challenge in receiving timely payments from consumers in non-metered areas of Kashmir.

Only 25-30% of consumers are paying their electricity bills on time, according to top officials.

Non-payment of bills is a major reason for power curtailments, as the department needs to purchase power from other producers, especially during winters.

Despite a 10% reduction in Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) loss, Jammu and Kashmir still tops the list in AT&C losses in India.

Currently, only 32% of residential areas have meters, while 68% are on flat rates, making it difficult to track consumption and bill accurately.

In non-metered areas, billing is done on a load basis, which often results in underbilling, leading to significant losses for the government.

The problem is exacerbated by residential consumers, particularly in Kashmir, where feeder wise losses are extremely high, reaching up to 70-80% in some areas.

The department is working to address these issues by calibrating the load on energy consumption, but this has led to resistance from some consumers.