Kupwara, 19 Feb: Expressing dismay and serious resentment against the Power Department, residents of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district Monday alleged that despite power outages throughout the day smart meters installed continue to show increasing electricity units consumed.
To stop the misuse of electricity, the government has installed smart power meters in Kupwara Town. Despite the installation of smart meters in the whole town, the residents are not being supplied with uninterrupted electricity.
The residents of Kupwara Town, while talking with kupwaratimes.com, said that for last 2 days, they haven’t received electricity but checking the units was completely surprising for them as online reading continued to show increasing consumed units.
A resident Mohammad Umar who expressed serious shock over the increasing number of units consumed despite power outage said that he has been keeping a regular watch on the online readings but it was surprising to see 27.4 units on a day when entire valley including Kupwara district was reeling under complete darkness given the heavy snowfall.
Another resident, Altaf Ahmad Wani told kupwaratimes.com that he too received 37 units despite no electricity today.
Waseem Peer another local also complained about the increasing consumed units during the daytime while there was not even a blink of electricity.
JKNC Kupwara Town Youth Leader Adv Umar Malik while talking to kupwaratimes.com echoed same saying that given heavy snowfall electricity wasn’t restored timely but the residents have been charged by huge electric units today on their smart meters.
He blamed the department, saying that this is a concern for locals given the online services of the department are itself putting their credibility in question.
Umar urged authorities to look into the matter and give relief to people from ever-increasing consumption charges without even using a single unit.
“This is for the first time that we received such exorbitant units since the installation of the smart electricity meters,” aggrieved locals told kupwaratimes.com.
The situation has caused significant distress to the affected consumers who are now urging higher authorities to intervene and provide some relief.
The kupwaratimes.com contacted JKPDD and KPDCL Kupwara officials, they said this is not in their domain and they don’t have any information on this. “Try to contact smart meter concerned officials in this regard.”
Before the installation of smart meters, the valley witnessed spark protests at several places in Kashmir, where people weren’t allowing the employees of Jammu and Kashmir’s Power Development Department (JKPDD) to install smart meters.
Besides this, Kupwaratimes.com also received many phone calls and messages regarding increasingly inflated electricity units urging Kupwara Administration and LG-led UT Administration to look into the matter and clear the confusion among residents. “It’s not only the lower and middle class people who have been suffering on account of the fatty power bills but some affluent people are also in arms against the present dispensation.”
