THANE: On observing mismatch in the consumption and collection of electricity, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited ( MSEDCL ) has come down heavily on the defaulters Officials have penalized electricity defaulters in Kalwa region and recovered over Rs 13 lakhs in fine amount and compounding fees. The week-long drive by the officials was undertaken following a review of the revenue collections and the power consumption by the residential and commercial users revealed huge discrepancies."We had observed that in the recent months the revenue had slipped while the unit consumption was rising steadfastly. In fact, a10 per cent mismatch in consumption and collection is observed in most places including Thane city, the figures in Kalwa were huge with a difference of over 26 per cent. Thus, a team of five officials was setup five who carried out inspection of various residential and commercial establishments especially in the areas where the power consumption was more," said D. Bhanage, executive engineer at MSEDCL.As many as 16 cases of power thefts, five commercial and 11 residential users were reported and the defaulters were booked and fine money was recovered from them. The inspection revealed that a hotel owner had tampered the electric meter and was using a remote device to stop recording of the power units consumed by them. The residential users were illegally using power for commercial activity paying a paltry amount to the MSEDCL. "We slapped notices to all the offenders and once they admitted to the offence they were asked to pay a fine and were even charged compounding fees as per the power consumption act. We are taking more such drives to determine if there are more offenders," added Bhanage.

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