Around 60 per cent electricity consumers in Tripura do not pay energy bills, forcing the authorities to take drastic steps including disconnection of power lines and imposition of hefty fines against the defaulters, an official said on Saturday.

A senior official of the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) said that out of 9.87 lakh electricity consumers in the state, only 4.32 lakh customers are paying their bills on time.

“Lakhs of electricity consumers, mostly in rural and interior areas, do not pay their electricity bills. We have imposed a hefty fine and disconnected electric lines of the defaulters,” the official said.

He said that during the past two years, the electricity lines of thousands of default consumers were disconnected.

“In many occasions, the TSECL engineers and workers were attacked or prevented when they went to disconnect the power lines of default consumers,” the official said.

Tripura Power and Agriculture Minister Ratan Lal Nath earlier said that the TSECL has undertaken a massive effort across the state to install rooftop solar power plants in thousands of homes under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, a central scheme encouraging rooftop solar power adoption through generous subsidies.

Under the scheme, residents can install rooftop solar panels and not only reduce their electricity expenses to zero but also earn refunds for surplus energy supplied back to the grid, the Minister had said.

“My last power bill before installing the solar plant was Rs 8,726. Now, after switching to solar, I received a refund of Rs 763 from TSECL,” Nath said.

The TSECL purchasing power from the solar power suppliers at Rs 2.65 per unit the Minister had said adding that over 300 households have installed rooftop solar plants so far in Tripura and thousands of families registered their names seeking to install such solar plants under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana.

Nath on Friday said that the TSECL is contemplating to use drones and other technologies to detect power theft, power loss and illegal hook line usage in the state.

The Minister urged the people to pay electricity bills on time and help the corporation to ensure steady power supply by discouraging theft and wastage.

Tripura has been a power surplus state since 2011 and supplies electricity to other northeastern states and neighbouring Bangladesh from its several gas-based power plants.