It has become a near routine that Power Development Department keeps alive its Amnesty Scheme for a good number of days anticipating that soon a day will come when all the entities having pending electricity bills will clear the same and allow the aforesaid department to function ideally by ensuring power supply without unscheduled outages and load shedding. In this context, PDD has extended the Amnesty Scheme for domestic consumers till March 31, 2026, offering significant relief to households with pending electricity dues.
As per Government Order No. 114-JKPDD of 2025, issued by the Power Development Department, the extension is granted under the same terms and conditions as notified earlier in Order No. 103-PDD of 2022 and Order No. 47-JKPDD of 2024. The only difference which this department is highlighting this time is the 100 percent waiver of interest and surcharge on the outstanding amount as of March 31, 2025.
What is to be seen is like the earlier orders issued in this regard, this time also the order has clarified that no further extension of the amnesty will be granted beyond this period. Going by the earlier trend, those who are habitual of not paying their electricity bills honestly and on regular basis are bound to take this clause of the order without much sincerity as everyone in the UT knows and look forward to having another extension of this scheme with more concessions as the government seems to be helpless in tackling the issue.
Conventionally, many people in J&K have the notion that using electricity without paying tariff is a normal thing and that is the reason the Power Development Department (PDD) is facing difficulty in catering to the needs of people as reports have confirmed in March this year that electricity bills worth over Rs 3517.90 crore of only government departments was pending in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. In the region, where the government departments were non-serious over such a significant issue, one can guess the situation with regard to the common man, who is giving a good number of alibis like faulty smart meters, wrong billing, etc. for not paying bills on time.
Earlier, the PDD department has started a disconnection drive by cutting the connections of those consumers who were reluctant to pay the electricity dues but due to pressure from obvious quarters, this stringent measure was deferred and the department tried another method by publishing the names of defaulters in newspapers but to no avail, thus giving no choice to PDD but to again rely on the amnesty scheme with added features as its last resort.
