HCA faces heat over non-payment of pending electricity bills

The ongoing dispute between the HCA and the TSSPDCL persists, with the HCA owing an outstanding electricity bill of Rs 1.64 crores.

File Photo: A view of the Uppal Cricket Stadium ahead of an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match. | Photo Credit: DEEPAK KR

The ongoing dispute between the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) and the TSSPDCL (Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited) persists, with the HCA still owing an outstanding electricity bill of Rs 1.64 crores.

“The pending electricity bill is Rs 1.64 crores. The case was booked in 2015, and regarding that the surcharge is still pending. Due to this, we disconnected the service on April 4th evening. However, HCA contacted our management, and the supply was restored. The president of HCA met our PMD and got the approval for the pending amount in instalments,” said Ramudu Kuntala, superintendent of the Habsiguda Electricity Department.

The official further mentioned that the Telangana High Court has issued a statement in favour of the electricity board.

“Our case was pending in the High Court, and the judgement was in favour of the electricity department. We then wrote a letter to the management for further action and then issued an order to collect the amount from the consumer (HCA). We actually served a notice to the HCA in the month of February.”

HCA President Jagan Mohan Rao stated that the association intends to settle the pending bills in instalments. However, they haven’t been initiated yet.

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“Had a discussion with TSSPDCL CMD Musharraf Faruqui regarding the electric bills payment issue of Uppal Cricket Stadium, 2015. Glad to share that our proposal was accepted, and steps are being taken to clear these nine-year-old issues. HCA will settle outstanding amounts in instalments,” Jagan had said earlier.

On Monday, the HCA was supposed to pay the first instalment, as per the electricity department’s directive. However, this did not occur, and with Tuesday being a holiday, the electricity board prepared to escalate the issue.

The State Government issued a directive to the Electricity Board officials to restore the power supply, disconnected on the eve of the IPL fixture between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium last Friday.

Earlier, a senior HCA official also suggested that the move by the Electricity Board could be due to the HCA’s reluctance to fulfil unreasonable demands for match tickets, which compounded the genuine issue of non-payment of dues.

As Sunrisers Hyderabad hosts Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 25, the HCA will need to find a solution to the non-payment of electricity bills within two weeks.