Over 48 lakh MSEDCL customers yet to pay Rs 2352 crores as security deposit
By: Pune Pulse
August 11, 2023
PUNE: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has appealed to the small and high-pressure electricity consumers in western Maharashtra to pay additional security deposits along with electricity bills for April and May last year. However, at present, 48,51,536 consumers owe Rs 2,352.59 crore in security deposits. Thus, MSEDCL has given a 30 day notice to all these customers to pay the security deposit amount failing which, the power supply will be cut off.
Meanwhile, electricity consumers have been provided with a maximum of six equal monthly installments to pay the additional security deposit amount. The facility of paying the security deposit amount online from home is available through www.mahadiscom.in website and mobile app as well. Ankush Nale, Pune Regional Director of MSEDCL has appealed to electricity consumers to cooperate by paying the additional security deposit amount.
According to Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission’s Electricity Supply Code 2021, security deposits are charged from electricity consumers. The security deposit is recalculated every year and accordingly the amount of the new security deposit is determined based on the average electricity consumption of the customer in the last one year at the end of the financial year.
If the security deposit of electricity consumers is a monthly bill, then there is a provision to take double the average monthly bill and if there is a quarterly (agricultural customer), then there is a provision to take 1.5 times the average quarterly bill. Similarly, as per Exchange 13.11, interest on the security deposit amount paid by the customer is paid to the electricity consumer by adjusting the amount of interest at the rate equal to the rate of the Reserve Bank of India.
Similarly, separate bills for the difference between the security deposit paid by electricity consumers earlier and the deposit required by the rules were issued in April and May last year. However, 48,47,120 consumers of domestic, commercial, industrial and others have to give Rs 1,853.07 crores. In both the categories, 25,81,014 consumers in Pune district have to pay Rs 1,487.92 crore, 4,84,757 consumers in Satara district have to give Rs 134.64 crore, Solapur district Rs 181.16 crore, 7,33,803 consumers in Kolhapur district owe Rs 407.15 crore and Sangli district Rs 141.72 crore.
