In a major drive to rectify electric meters, officials of the Bhandup division of the Maharashtra state electricity distribution company (MSEDCL) collected fines worth Rs52.72 lakh from as many as 72000 consumers who had defective meters. Some people say even the regular bill payers have not been spared from this drive

About MSEDCL
(MSEDCL) came into existence on June 6, 2005 after unbundling the erstwhile Maharashtra State Electricity Board into four companies. MSEDCL is also known as Mahavitaran or Mahadiscom. Mahadiscom is one of the largest public sector company engaged in the business of electricity distribution with annual turnover of Rs. 21,278 Crores. It serves 156.96 Lakh consumers in Maharashtra State with a committed pool of over 75000 employees.

The drive was completed successfully in Thane, Vashi, Mulund, Bhandup, Nerul, Wagle estate and Panvel. The criteria for faulty meters include a slow-running or defective meter, a consumer getting only an average electricity bill, as well as zero reading.
“The Bhandup division had as many as 35833 zero-reading meters, while there were 11241 faulty meters. The number of meters showing only an average reading was 6409, while 18931 meters were showing a limited reading, from 1 to 30 only,” said a senior MSEDCL official. He added that the highest number of faulty meters was found in the Thane circle (48751) followed by 23663 faulty meters in the Vashi circle. Theft of power is one of the biggest problem that need to be addressed, as people shamelessly steal power and manipulate the old meters in their homes and industries. But since genuine users have also been punished people are agitated towards indifferent attitude of MSEDCL .
website for making contact with officials of Mahadiscom is Mahadiscom www.mahadiscom.in
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