Srinagar, Sep 28: The Jammu and Kashmir government has disclosed that electricity bills amounting to Rs 6,870.15 crore remain outstanding against commercial and industrial consumers, government and semi-government departments and security forces installations in the Union Territory.
The figures were provided by the Power Development Department (PDD) in the Legislative Assembly on Monday in response to a question raised by MLA Hasnain Masoodi.
According to the department, government and semi-government departments account for the largest share of the outstanding dues at Rs 3,155.69 crore, followed by commercial consumers with Rs 1,833.60 crore.
Industrial consumers owe another Rs 1,005.89 crore, while unpaid electricity bills against security forces installations stand at Rs 874.97 crore.
The department said the DISCOMs have been undertaking sustained measures to recover the outstanding dues, including monitoring arrears, issuing demand and payment notices and pursuing defaulting consumers for liquidation of their dues.
It said electricity connections are also being disconnected in cases of persistent default after following the prescribed procedure.
During FY 2025-26, a total of 88,387 electricity connections in the categories mentioned were disconnected for non-payment. These included 84,818 commercial connections, 3,167 industrial connections and 402 government/semi-government connections.
In FY 2026-27, the department has so far reported 50,226 disconnections, including 48,283 commercial, 1,836 industrial and 107 government/semi-government connections.
The department, however, did not provide disconnection figures separately for security forces installations in the breakup supplied to the Assembly.
Responding to a question on whether the government plans to intensify recovery of unpaid electricity bills to augment revenue, the PDD said it was continuously strengthening its revenue recovery mechanism, with particular focus on commercial, industrial and other high-value and defaulting consumers.
It said circle-wise special recovery drives have been launched against high-value defaulters, while arrears are being monitored through MIS and billing software and recovery targets are being fixed for field officers.
The department also said the disconnection and reconnection policy would be strictly enforced against non-paying consumers and legal remedies, including recovery of dues as arrears of land revenue, would be used against habitual defaulters.
On the possibility of introducing an amnesty scheme for waiver of electricity arrears for Below Poverty Line (BPL) consumers, the government said no such proposal is currently under consideration.
