As per the norms prescribed by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), the department is bound to replace the defective meters within 15 working days.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has found glaring deficiencies in the functioning of the Electricity Department, including in the levy of current consumption charges due to non-replacement of defective meters and problems in the billing system.
The audit revealed that of a total of 4,77,660 meters fixed for Low Tension (LT) consumers, 42,309 were defective in the Union Territory. As per the norms prescribed by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), the department was bound to replace the defective meters within 15 working days.
“In case of defective/stuck/stopped/burnt meters, the consumer should be billed on the basis of higher of monthly consumption of the corresponding month of the previous year and average monthly consumption of the immediately preceding three months. These charges should be levied for a maximum period of three months, within which time frame the defective meters have to be replaced. However, the department levied [charges] on the basis of average consumption for some meters for more than 20 to 25 years,” said the report, which was tabled by the government in the Assembly on Monday.
The levy of charges on the defective meters violated JERC norms and encouraged the consumption of a higher quantum of power by the consumers beyond the average consumption, and consequential loss of revenue. The non-replacement of defective meters led to improper levy of current consumption charges, the report said.
While assessing the effectiveness of the billing software, the CAG found that the names and addresses of certain consumers were incomplete, leading to difficulties in revenue recovery at the time of default in payment.
There was no provision to accept part-payment of arrears. However, the department accepted part-payment of arrears from consumers by manually modifying the amount due. This reflected the vulnerability of the system, the CAG said.
The billing system also did not have a provision to accept reconnection charges for disconnected LT services. Due to the limitation, it was not possible to generate MIS reports for the cases where reconnection was made without collecting reconnecting charges, the report said.
The Electricity Act, 2003, warranted the maintenance of a healthy balance of interest between consumers and power utilities. However, the audit of tariff, metering, billing and collection by the department revealed that such a balance was not maintained as the gap between revenue and cost of power supplied to consumers had increased from ₹97.57 crore to ₹375 crore during the three years ending 2019-20. The value of transmission and distribution losses was ₹69.51 crore during 2017-20, the report pointed out.
It highlighted the need for a proper inspection by the Anti Power Theft Squad to avoid distribution loss, curbing of theft and proper accounting of energy. The squad has inspected only 553 consumers out of a total of 4.50 lakh consumers.
The CAG, in its audit of the Jail Department, pointed out that the X-ray scanner machine installed at the Central prison at Kalapet was dysfunctional. Since the machine was not in use, security measures for controlling the entry of mobile phones and contraband like firearms, drugs and narcotics into the prison could not be ruled out.
“It is pertinent to mention that during the period of audit, 224 cell phones were seized from the prisoners,” the report said. The Inspector General of Prisons had promised to repair the machine at the earliest, it added.
The audit also pointed to deficiencies like shortage of staff in the prison hospital, filling of posts with persons from non-correctional services and shortage of trained staff in the jail.
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Printable version | Aug 29, 2022 8:11:38 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/puducherry/cag-finds-deficiencies-in-the-functioning-of-electricity-department/article65826409.ece