Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has announced one-time settlement (OTS) scheme for the benefit of the defaulters in all categories of electricity consumers.

The scheme will be implemented in three phases for 54 days from November 8 to December 31. The OTS will particularly benefit the domestic category consumers.

Under the OTS scheme, consumers have been given the facility of paying the outstanding bill in installments. It will also benefit the consumers facing charges of power theft as they too have been allowed to pay their bills and fine in installments.

The first phase will be from November 8 to November 30, the second phase from December 1 to December 15 and last phase from December 16 to December 31. 

Under the OTS scheme, the consumers will get 100 per cent waiver on penal interest and surcharge on the outstanding bills. It will cover all categories of consumers – LMV-1 (domestic), LMV-2 (commercial), LMV-4B (private institutions), LMV-5 (private tube wells) and LMV-6 (industrial consumers).

The domestic category consumers with power connections of one kilo watt will get 100 per cent waiver of penal interest if they pay the bill in first two phases of the OTS scheme till December 15 and 80 per cent waiver if the payment is made on or before December 31.

For the private tube wells, the consumers will get the benefit of the OTS/interest waiver for the pending bills for the period of March 31, 2023 to October 31, 2023.  The defaulter consumers can make the payment of the bills through UPI, Jan Seva Kendra or the website of the UPPCL.

Energy Minister AK Sharma said that power consumers booked on charges of power theft and are liable to pay penalty would have to register themselves by paying 10 per cent of the outstanding amount. He said such consumers would get the facility of paying their bills in three installments. 

Sharma said the cases of the power consumers pending in courts and whose connections had been permanently disconnected would also be covered under the OTS scheme.

The minister said power consumers against whom recovery certificates had been issued for the recovery of the pending bills as land revenue would also be covered by the OTS scheme.

He said the government, with the policy of giving top priority to the interests of the consumers, had reintroduced the OTS scheme and all defaulter consumers should avail its benefit and pay the outstanding bills.