When the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) launched its rebate and waiver scheme to get defaulters to pay up in 2016, the water utility was ready to waive thousands of crores in outstanding bills.
With the scheme having ended on December 31, 2017, the DJB data show that it waived a total of ₹821 crore in rebates and earned ₹392 crore in payments.
Outstanding bills
At the time the scheme was launched on February 14, 2016, the DJB had about ₹2,900 crore in outstanding bills. By the time the scheme ended, a total of 5.89 lakh domestic water consumers had availed of the benefits, according to official data.
The late payment surcharge (LPSC) was waived completely for all consumers and the principal amount reduced by 25% to 100%, depending on the category of colony, on dues as on November 30, 2015.
Of the consumers who benefited from the scheme, 5.72 lakh availed of the rebate on arrears and 4.69 lakh availed of the LPSC waiver. Payment of arrears netted the DJB ₹490 crore, while LPSC collection was ₹331 crore.
Commercial consumers
The DJB had also launched a rebate scheme for commercial consumers for a year from September 2016.
Commercial consumers were only offered a rebate on the LPSC, not the principal amount.
This scheme, according to the data, benefited 14,200 consumers. The DJB earned ₹92 crore in payments, while it gave ₹73.22 crore in rebate to commercial consumers.
Officials said they had hoped the schemes would have had a greater impact, since a certain amount of dues are recovered every year anyway.
An official said that many consumers had been waiting till the last minute to pay up, hoping for another extension to the scheme, which had been extended several times.
While announcing an extension from July 31 till September 2016, the DJB had said in an official statement that about 4 lakh consumers had availed of the scheme till then, with a total rebate of ₹571 crore given.
