PSPCL detects 5,228 cases of power theft

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 18

During the course of a relentless drive to curb the menace of power thefts and loss of revenue, teams of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) have carried out raids and systematic checking during last one-and-a-half month in all distribution zones across the state, which has led to detection of 5,228 cases of theft and unauthorised use of electricity (UUE) and imposition of Rs 6.94 crore penalty on defaulting consumers.

Giving this information here, a PSPCL official said from April 4 to May 16, 2022, different teams had inspected 54,212 connections and detected a total of 5,228 violations, including 1,285 power thefts and 3943 UUE cases.

This massive zero-tolerance drive was initiated under directions of the Chief Minister, Punjab, Bhagwant Singh Mann, and state Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO, the official said while adding that in the Central Zone (comprising Ludhiana), teams inspected 7,130 connections and found irregularities in 687 cases, which included 171 thefts and 516 UUE/UE. A penalty of Rs 91 lakh was imposed on defaulting consumers.

Similarly, in the Border Zone 20,919 connections were checked out of which 439 cases of theft and 1,059 cases of UUE/UE were detected. A penalty of Rs 79 lakh on cases of theft and Rs 47 lakh in cases of the UUE/UE was slapped.

Inspection of 9,992 connections in the North Zone led to detection of 72 cases of thefts and 883 of UUE/UE. A penalty of Rs 56 lakh was imposed on consumers found stealing electricity or using more than the sanctioned load.

In the South Zone, total connections checked were 6,028 connections out of which 146 cases of thefts and 517 of UUE/UE were detected. The penalty charged in all these cases was Rs 1.11 crore.

Checking of 10.143 connections in the West Zone led to detection of 457 cases of theft and 968 of UUE/UE and a penalty of Rs 3.11 crore was charged from erring consumers.

#pspcl