Guwahati: The Assam Power  distribution Corporation Limited (APDCL) has been incurring a loss of around Rs 300 crore per month since 2018 because of non-payment of electricity billsand power theft. Electricity bills worth Rs 2,000 crore in the state has not been paid to the company. Ironically, the state government itself is one of the major defaulters. It owes nearly Rs 95 crore to the power company.

According to the APDCL sources, the public health engineering department(PHED) is the bigest defaulter. It owes Rs 26 crore to APDCL and is followed by the health department (Rs 12 crore), education department (over Rs 7 crore) and home department (over Rs 5 crore). The forest department owes Rs 4.94 crore, public works department Rs 4.29 crore, irrigation department Rs 6.39 crore, veterinary department Rs 2.26 crore, agriculture department Rs 2.35 crore, panchayat & rural development Rs 2.08 crore and judiciary Rs 2.08 crore to the company.

The total electricity bill of the deputy commissioner offices and the sub-divisional offices of the state has crossed Rs 5 crore. The office of the director general of police (DGP), which comes under the home department, has dues over Rs 3 crore.

(Agencies)