MSEDCL exposes massive electricity theft of over Rs 2 crore in one day in Western Maharashtra
Pune : MSEDCL detects electricity thefts of Rs 1.59 crores in a single day
By: Pune Pulse
September 7, 2023
Pune: In a special campaign, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) conducted a drive in which 1,727 unauthorized users of electricity were fined.
This includes 1,390 electricity thefts by hooking up electricity cables or tampering with meters. In this operation which took place simultaneously throughout the day in Pune, Solapur, Satara, Kolhapur, and Sangli districts, about 13,49,000 thousand units i.e. 2 crore 19 lakh 78 thousand rupees of electricity theft have been detected.
As per information, criminal action is being taken against the defaulters. There is a provision for imprisonment for the crime of electricity theft. Therefore, instead of stealing electricity, Mahavitaran has suggested using electricity legally.
In order to reduce distribution and commercial losses, regular action of Mahavitaran against power theft is underway. Ankush Nale, Pune Regional Director has directed to conduct a special campaign against electricity theft for at least a day in a month in Pune, Solapur, Satara, Sangli, and Kolhapur districts.
Accordingly, this campaign started at 9 am in all the districts recently and till late evening 19,900 electricity connections of household, commercial, industrial, agricultural etc were inspected. In this (amount of electricity theft in brackets) Pune district- 838 (1 crore 28 lakh 58 thousand), Satara- 166 (14 lakh 76 thousand), Solapur- 319 (25 lakh 49 thousand), Kolhapur- 154 (28 lakh 79 thousand) and Sangli 230 (22 lakh 16 thousand) unauthorized consumption of electricity worth 2 crores 19 lakh 78 thousand was revealed in total 1727 places in the district.
In this campaign, criminal action was also taken against consumers who have failed to pay their electricity bills or are using electricity from other places. In the case of electricity theft, criminal action is being taken against them under section 135 if they do not pay the full amount of the bill as per the stolen electricity consumption along with the penalty amount.
