Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd, or PVVNL, the discom supplying power to Noida, has started disconnecting connections to households that have not paid their electricity bills.
This campaign was launched on February 1 and, till now, electricity connections of about 1,500 homes have been cut. There are still about 20,000 houses that might lose power supply any moment.
PS Jain, president of Confederation of NCR RWAs (CONRWA), said residents of Noida had already deposited security money with the discom at the time of taking the new connections. "When the discom already has security deposits from all households, disconnecting power, that too without warning, is not justified," said Jain. "PVVNL should at least allow people some time to pay their outstanding bills."
Residents have had to deposit Rs 2,480 for a new 2-kilowatt connection and Rs 3,030 for a new 3-kilowatt connection.
Since PVVNL will be upgrading its software between February 9 and February 12, the discom will not be accepting any payment in this period. This means that people whose connections have been disconnected will have to wait for some more time to get their power supply restored.
Mukul Singhal, chief engineer of PVVNL, told City Spidey that all officers have been instructed to recover the outstanding payments.
