Hyderabad
Government agencies are not paying electricity bills. Four government agencies owe large sums to TSSPDCL and TSNPDCL. The electricity bill arrears were hundreds of crores by the time of the state's formation, but now it has reached thousands of crores. The arrears have been rising at over Rs 3,000 crore annually for three years. 18,000 crores were accumulated in these 8 years.
Electricity officials have recently calculated the arrears. Of this, the arrears of four government agencies were found to be over Rs 18,000 crore. Electricity consumption for lift irrigation projects, street lights of Panchayati Rajs, Municipalities, Corporations, Water Supply, and Hyderabad Metro Water Works Company has been found to be high in electricity consumption. These had arrears of Rs 1,302.03 crore as of March 31, 2014.
However, in the last 8 years, it has reached thousands of crores due to non-payment of bills. Most of the lift irrigation scheme bills are pending. As of March 31, 2014, the electricity arrears used for lift-irrigation schemes were only Rs.106.92 crore. Later with the Kaleswaram lift irrigation Scheme and the power consumption for other lifts increased tremendously. As of March 31, the Irrigation Department had arrears of up to Rs 8,000 crore in electricity bills.
On the other hand, street lights used in rural and urban areas and electricity bills for water supply are also pending. Electricity bills for street lights in Panchayati Raj have gone up by more than Rs 3,800 crore. Electricity arrears for rural water supply have increased by over Rs 1,800 crore as part of the RWS scheme. In total, the Panchayati Raj department owes over Rs 5,600 crore. The municipal administration, the urban development department, the electricity consumption, and the electricity bills of the street lights are over Rs 1,200 crore today. Of this, high-tension electricity bills reached another Rs 350 crore. The arrears of Hyderabad Metro Water Works also reached Rs 2,750 crore.