11.8cr unpaid bills mete out shocks to discom's finances after pre-poll waiver

Time of India

18 hours ago

Bhopal: Nearly two years after the Madhya Pradesh govt announced a Rs 4,700-crore power bill waiver under the Bill Mafi Yojana in Sept 2023—a pre-poll sop—official records reveal that over 13,600 consumers in Bhopal city alone, who benefited from the scheme and whose pending bills were put on suspension, have not made a single monthly bill payment since then.
These "zero payment" consumers, spread across the city, collectively owe more than Rs 11.8 crore as of June 2025. These figures, sourced from internal records of the Central Discom (Madhya Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Company Limited), cover only urban consumers within Bhopal city, spread across four city divisions—East, North, South, West—and the Kolar division.
The data categorises such consumers as "zero payment" users, meaning they received the benefit of the 2023 waiver but have not cleared any subsequent bills, including monthly usage charges, since then, said sources.
The highest concentration of such defaulters is in Bhopal City North division—catering to areas of the city like Chhola, Imamigate, Sultaniya, Bairagarh, etc.—which alone has 5,241 active non-paying consumers, with total arrears crossing Rs 6.58 crore.
Bhopal East division—catering to supply in areas like Ayodhya Bypass, Karond, Bhanpur, etc.—follows with 3,877 such consumers owing Rs 3.04 crore. In Bhopal City South division—which supplies power in Arera Colony, Bhadbhada, Kotra, etc.—2,312
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consumers owe Rs 1.24 crore, while 500 non-paying accounts in the West zone—which distributes energy in areas like Katara Hills, Shahpura, Shakti Nagar, etc.—are linked to Rs 15.41 lakh in unpaid bills.
The Kolar division, which supplies power in localities like Danish Kunj, Misrod, etc., accounts for 1,765 zero-payment cases, with dues of Rs 84.52 lakh.
Senior officials said that these are only consumers who are still considered active—meaning they continue to draw electricity but have not made any payment.
An additional 431 inactive connections, with dues of nearly Rs 1 crore, are also recorded, many of which may have been disconnected due to non-payment, said sources.
The situation is particularly concerning for Central Discom, which already reported the highest share of unpaid bills across the state—Rs 10,179 crore as of June 2025, as reported by TOI earlier. Of this, Rs 5,910 crore is from domestic consumers. The Bill Mafi Yojana, announced in September 2023 ahead of the assembly elections, suspended dues of lakhs of low-consumption domestic consumers.
However, officials now admit that the scheme triggered a behavioural shift, with many consumers assuming future bills would also be waived.
"We are seeing a pattern where consumers who received benefit under the 2023 scheme have made no effort to resume payment," said sources. "This has complicated recovery efforts and added pressure on discom finances," added sources. Discom sources said along with appeal and persuasion, strict action like disconnection and legal action is also being taken to recover dues from these consumers.