Punjab: 20 cases of electricity theft detected, fine of Rs 6.5 lakh imposed

Punjab: The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on Tuesday checked 1,273 electricity connections in Barnala. During the inspection, 20 cases of power theft were detected. Barnala deputy chief engineer Tej Bansal said 915 connections were checked in Malerkotla, 278 in Barnala city and 80 in Barnala suburbs. He said a total of Rs 6.58 lakh was recovered from those who had not paid their outstanding bills. According to information, 41 cases of unauthorised use of electricity (UUE) were also found, leading to a fine of Rs 95,000, while one case of unauthorised use of electricity (UE) led to a fine of Rs 40,000. Bansal urged consumers to get their electricity connections regularised to avoid penalty and advertisement He further informed that PSPCL has launched a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme to help the defaulting consumers, under which surcharge waiver and 50 per cent interest relief has been offered on the principal amount of bills outstanding till September 30, 2023. This settlement scheme is open to domestic, commercial and industrial consumers.