Consumers owe Rs 350cr in dues, says power minister

Panaji: Dues amounting to Rs 350 crore are pending from power consumers in the state. Govt consumers are the biggest defaulters, with Rs 142.7 crore pending, followed by commercial consumers who owe govt Rs 122.8 crore, and domestic consumers who owe Rs 85.4 crore.The information was provided by power minister Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar in a written reply in the assembly. His reply stated that 6,551 consumers owe the department more than Rs 1 lakh in dues as of June 2025. These include around 3,000 public services consumers, which comprise govt departments. These also include 300 electricity department connections of its various offices.Another 1,525 defaulters are commercial consumers, 1,718 are domestic consumers, and 500-odd are industrial consumers. Of the total 6,551, 2,968 connections are active.When asked about the steps taken to recover amounts from major defaulters, Dhavalikar said a 15-day notice is served to the consumers to pay arrears, failing which the connection is temporarily disconnected.For consumers approaching the department with financial problems, the department provides an instalment plan to recover the payments in part, depending upon the past payments trend of the consumer, with applicable delay charges. Failing this, the connection is temporarily disconnected, he said.If the temporary disconnection lasts for six months, the department serves another notice to the defaulter, after which the connection is permanently disconnected if dues are not cleared. Finally, the matter is referred to the revenue recovery court.At a public hearing in May, conducted by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), to discuss the proposed power tariff hike, consumers appealed to the JERC to keep the tariff hike on hold until the department recovers dues from govt departments and other defaulters first.