CAG finds deficiencies in the functioning of Electricity Department

PUDUCHERRY

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.