Theft and non-payment make up 40 percent of the total loss of revenue for power department
Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 21
Wedged in between stinging public criticism, crumbling infrastructure and growing expenditure-revenue gap, the Department of Power, Nagaland has made a bold move into the online world of billing. The department on October 21 put into place an online facility – www.dopn.gov.in - for payment of electricity bill. With this, the Power department becomes the first utility department in the state to provide online payment facility for services rendered.
State Power Minister, C. Kipili Sangtam officially launched the portal at a programme held at the Electrical Office complex in Dimapur. Sangtam also became the first consumer to make bill payment through the portal.
With the launch, the department seeks to ease bill collection while aiding revenue generation and doing away with long queues. The online payment portal is part of a larger Central Government funded project - Restructured Accelerated Power Development Reform Programme (R-APDRP), the primary objective of which is to reduce losses and improve service delivery.
For a start, this facility will be available to consumers of SDO -I and III under Dimapur Electrical Division and in SDO- II, Chumukedima and Kohima by year-end. This facility will then be implemented in 6 other towns by June 2017.
Er. Keviletuo Yiese, SE (Revenue) & Nodal Officer, R-APDRP during the launch today held that insufficient payment counters and long queues discourage consumers from paying. He added that with the facility consumers can now comfortably pay from home.
Power Minister, C. Kipili Sangtam, in his address, highlighted the loss incurred by the department in revenue during 2015-16, which stood at 68 percent. This, he said is like the state is providing electricity almost free.
Holding power theft and non-payment as the main factors responsible for revenue loss, he termed it “a moral issue” that deserves introspection. Theft and non-payment is said to make up 40 percent of the total loss. According to him, the department despite the many challenges has been doing a commendable job.
While urging the consumers to make good use of the facility, he said, “I believe many of our consumers will be having access to the internet.” The payments can be made through debit/credit cards or net banking. His speech though fell short of mentioning how the state government intends to revive a power sector crying for vital governmental financial support.
Er. Yiese presenting an overview of the commercial aspect of the department informed that rapid demand growth has widened the demand-supply gap. At present, the department can hardly meet 120MW of the peak demand of 145MW due to infrastructural constraints. Demand is projected to exceed 265MW by 2019.
Following a steady growth between 1961 and 2003-05, statistics point to a 2-fold increase in demand over the past one decade. At 60MW during 2003-05, the demand has shot up to 145 at present. “Revenue generation is showing an increasing trend every year” but it does not correspond with the spending and energy consumed, said Er. Yiese. Nagaland was said to have the highest Aggregate Technical & Commercial losses in the country at almost 70 percent in 2015-16.
The R-APDRP promises a slew of changes and upgrades in the billing and revenue mechanism, which includes in the list a dedicated Customer Care Centre (hotline) centred in Dimapur, self help kiosks and importantly, stricter energy auditing.
