Gurgaon: With outstanding electricity bills across Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) rising to nearly Rs 4,800 crore, the power utility has ordered an inquiry into cases where electricity supply was restored at premises with unpaid dues through new connections after earlier connections were permanently disconnected.DHBVN managing director Vikram Singh has directed officials to complete the verification within 15 days and said accountability would be fixed for “lapses”. Public relations officer Sanjay Chugh said the inquiry would be completed “within the stipulated period” and action taken in accordance with the findings and applicable rules. “The exercise will involve matching records of permanently disconnected connections, outstanding bills, applications and documents submitted for fresh connections and details identifying the premises,” the official said.DHBVN’s defaulting electricity bills stood at Rs 4,799.9 crore on Aug 31, up from Rs 4,633.1 crore at the end of March — an increase of 3.6% in five months. Jind accounted for the largest share, with Rs 1,587.8 crore in outstanding bills, around a third of the total. Hisar followed with Rs 950.8 crore and Bhiwani with Rs 620.1 crore. The figures underline the scale of the recovery challenge facing the utility, which supplies electricity to the city and other parts of south Haryana.The utility said the exercise was intended to strengthen revenue recovery and ensure that consumers did not obtain electricity by bypassing prescribed procedures. The inquiry will examine whether consumers used fresh connections to circumvent recovery of old dues and whether officials followed prescribed procedures while approving them. Officials will verify whether the new connection was issued in compliance with the applicable rules.For Gurgaon, the inquiry could bring scrutiny to the process through which fresh connections are sanctioned at premises with a history of unpaid bills. The key question will be whether a change in the name of the applicant or a fresh application enabled electricity supply to resume without the previous dues being dealt with under the applicable rules.
