Pune: MSEDCL urges municipal corporations and ZPs to pay pending bills

A total of Rs 1188 crore is to be recovered for the streetlight scheme, while Rs 420 crore is pending to be recovered from water supply departments in the Pune division, according to MSEDCL.

The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corporation (MSEDCL) has appealed to the government institutes in the Pune division to pay their pending bills, as the public utility is waiting to recover around Rs 1,950 crore from various government institutes in the Pune region. In an official release, the MSEDCL has informed that a large number of pending bills in the Pune region are from the department responsible for managing streetlights.

This includes municipal corporations in the Pune division, including Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Kolhapur, and Zilla Parishads, as well as other relevant institutes in these districts that are yet to pay their pending bills. According to the official numbers released by MSEDCL, a total of Rs 1,188 crore is pending to be recovered for the usage of streetlights in the region.

The water supply department also tops the list of pending bills, as Rs 420 crore is pending to be recovered for the public water supply scheme. A total of Rs 170 crore from household consumers, Rs 54 crore from commercial consumers, and Rs 82 crore from industrial consumers are pending recovery in the Pune region.

According to officials, two departments contribute to over 70 per cent of the pending electricity bills in the region. The MSEDCL is having difficulty managing things because it is adding a financial burden to the utility. To provide better service to its customers, the department is being forced to cut the power supply of consumers who have failed to make payments.

"The MSEDCL has to purchase electricity from the companies that produce it every day to ensure proper supply to its consumers. Due to the pending bills from consumers, the MSEDCL is forced to lend money at heavy interest rates to pay these companies. This is also resulting in increased power charges. The consumers should cooperate with us and pay their bills on time to avoid this," said Ankush Nale, Regional Director of Pune Division MSEDCL.