Hyderabad: Power connections to hundreds of houses with pending arrears across the city were cut off by APCPDCL officials on Saturday ahead of the bifurcation. Even households with pending dues as low as Rs 500 have not been exempted as the staff was ordered to collect payment or face suspension before the bifurcation.
The APCPDCL which is wrapping up its division process, meanwhile, changed its name to Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited on Saturday. Thousands of households faced power disconnections from Saturday morning as the discom staff went around the city on a disconnecting spree.
“It took us some time to realise that it was not load shedding. When we confronted the officials, we were told that there were orders from higher-ups to disconnect power for all households that have pending bills,” said Syed Ahmed, a resident of Charminar area.
Moreover, the households will have to wait for two more days to get the connection restored as the entire workforce is busy with the bifurcation. Online bill payments and generation of receipts for payments across the counter will remain suspended due to servers being switched. Discom officials were unavailable for a comment.
