Energy Minister urges consumers to pay electricity bills regularly Installs pre-paid meter at his official residence

| | Lucknow
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Energy Minister urges consumers to pay electricity bills regularly Installs pre-paid meter at his official residence

Saturday, 16 November 2019 | PNS | Lucknow

Uttar Pradesh Energy Minister Shrikant Sharma said that power pilferage was the single biggest hurdle in ensuring round-the-clock uninterrupted power supply in the state.

He said that power supply could be further improved and tariff could be reduced if the consumers made regular payment of their electricity bills.

“The UP government is committed to providing power at cheap rate and round-the-clock power supply to every household in the state. This can be realised if power theft is checked and UP Power Corporation Limited is not compelled to go for periodic hikes in tariff,” the minister said.

On Friday, Sharma presided over a ceremony for installation of pre-paid metre at his official residence on Kalidas Marg in Lucknow and said the smart pre-paid meters were the only solution to preventing power theft and hence it was started from his residence.

“The government wants to provide 24-hour power to the poor but it is also their (consumers’) duty to pay monthly bills regularly. Consumers should also join the government campaign to curb power pilferage,” he said.

The minister also called on all politicians, parliamentarians, legislators and others to install smart pre-paid meters and make people aware about its benefit.

These meters were also installed at the residences of some other ministers on Friday.

Sharma said that with the installation of these meters, consumers could get details of their consumption online and pay their bills through a consumer app digitally.

He also appealed to the people to inform about power thefts in their areas on toll-free number 1912.

Several government departments, politicians and officials owe Rs 13,000 crore to the UPPCL as electricity dues. As per the UPPCL records, the Irrigation department has outstanding electricity dues of Rs 2,656 crore and Urban Development department of Rs 3,636 crore.

In order to check power theft, the UPPCL has opened 68 dedicated power police stations where 2,050 personnel, including 75 inspectors, 375 sub-inspectors and a large number of constables have been posted.

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