3.9.2    Realisation of Arrears

A substantial portion of revenue from government departments remains in arrears. Out of a total arrears of Rs. 1706.77 crores as at the end of December 2000, the arrears pertaining to government departments was Rs. 947.55 crores. Total amount under litigation is Rs. 229.13 crores. The present collection efficiency as stated is 94% which is proposed to be improved to 95% in 2001-02.

  3.9.3    Control on theft of energy

The following steps have been taken by the Board to prevent theft of energy and malpractices:

(i)         Formation of Flying Squad under administrative control of Member (F&RM).

(ii)        Formation of District Level Team with the help of District administration and Police.

(iii)       Intensive checking by O&M staff.

(iv)       Checking by AE (Vig.)

(v)        Incentive to persons who give information about theft of energy leading to its detection.     

(vi)       Meter reading by qualified ITI persons engaged on contract.

(vii)      Instructions issued to all field officers to take check readings of the private HT consumers after a fortnight and to ensure that the consumers do not get opportunity to tamper with the meter or manipulate.

(viii)      Every year, the connections of all the HT consumers are tested to ensure that they are recording correct energy consumed by them. Fortnightly meter reading of HT consumers is also being done. 

3.10     Status of Accounts

3.10.1  On the reorganisation under the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 from 1^st November, 2000, the Government of the State of Madhya Pradesh constituted the Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board  (MPSEB) and the Government of the State of Chattisgarh constituted the Chattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB) under section 5 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 in pursuance to section 58(4) of the said Act. The Government of India (Ministry of Power) in its Order No. 42/8/2000 - R&R dated 12^th April, 2001 notified that the assets, liabilities, rights and undertakings of the existing Board (MPEB) shall provisionally pass on to the successor Boards w.e.f. 15.04.2001 in the following manner:

(i)                   Fixed assets (land and buildings, installed plants and machinery, transmission and distribution systems etc.) situated in either State will pass on to the successor Board.

(ii)                 Movable assets and stores of the field units shall be transferred on the basis of location. Stores, furniture and vehicles of the Head Office shall be apportioned according to the year of purchase in the population ratio of 1762: 4857 (26.62% : 73.38%).

(iii)     Project / Asset specific liability of the existing Board shall be passed on to the State / successor Board to which the asset has been allocated.

(iv)                The liabilities of the existing Board which cannot be assigned under (iii) above to any asset shall be apportioned between the successor Boards in the aforesaid population ratio.

3.10.2      For consideration of tariff proposal of the Board for determination of tariff for 2001-02, the year 1999-2000 is taken as the Previous Year (Actuals), 2000-01 as the Current Year (Estimated) and 2001-02 as the Ensuing Year (Projected). The Board submitted the actual cost and revenue data in its proposal as provisional for 1999-2000 based on the Statement of Accounts of that year of undivided Board by bifurcating the figures in the ratio of 26:74, estimated figures for 2000 - 01 over the bifurcated figures of 1999-2000 and projected figures for 2001-02 over 2000-01 since the Statement of Accounts for the 1999-2000 of the Board is not finalised and audited as yet. In view of the above, the Commission has relaxed the requirements of audited accounts of 1999-2000.      

  4.         PUBLIC RESPONSE TO BOARD’S PETITION

  4.1       Public Hearings and Written Responses

4.1.1        The Commission gave vide publicity to the tariff proposals submitted by Board and invited the public objections / comments. Written observations from 564 individuals and representatives of various organizations (listed at Annexure II) were received by the Commission. Special public hearing of farmers was also conducted on 11^th July 2001 at Indore.

4.1.2        The Commission received valuable suggestions on a number of specific issues during public hearings and through written responses, besides a large number of general observations for improving the efficiency of Board and thereby minimising the need for enhancement of tariff. Observations having bearing on tariff determination have been classified and are being dealt with in the following paragraphs.

4.1.3        The Commission has considered all the suggestions, observations and objections while finalizing its Order. The Commission has to strike a balance between the interests of the consumers on the one hand and that of the Board on the other. While the rationale for the conclusions arrived at by the Commission are given in the subsequent paragraphs of this Order, definite views of the Commission on the suggestions and observations of the public are indicated briefly against the different items.

4.2           General Issues

4.2.1        Public, in general, has strongly opposed the substantial increase in tariff proposed by the Board for the reasons such as supply of irregular and poor quality of power, theft / pilferage of energy and the inefficiency of the Board.

4.2.2        The Commission has given specific directions to the Board for checking and controlling the theft and for improving its performance. The Commission has adopted a judicious approach in determining the tariff.

4.3           Meter Installation, meter-reading and billing

4.3.1        Shri Jawahar Lal Rathore, Indore, Mandsaur Chamber of Commerce and Pithampur Udyogik Sangathan objected to the high price of meters charged. Shri Bharat Bhushan Bhargava, Shri Suresh Mittal (Gwalior), Viapari Association, Khargone and others said that electronic meters should be provided at reasonable cost or at Board’s expense and only when necessary. It was also objected that meter reading is irregular and wrong bills showing very high charges are being issued in large number of cases and there are several instances, where bill amounts are reduced subsequently.

4.3.2        Electronic meters are essential to measure the electricity consumption more accurately and to help checking of theft and pilferage. The Commission expects that the Board will practice transparency and exercise due economy in their purchase so that the consumer is satisfied and not burdened unduly. The Board will also improve its meter reading and billing system making it more transparent and less liable to errors, so as to reduce consumer grievances on this account.