Gangtok: Electricity consumers in Sikkim are being duped by fraudsters calling them to recharge their pre-paid connections, failing which, their connectivity would be disrupted.
Taking note of these fraudulent cases, the Sikkim Power Department invited members of the local media for clarification on Friday.
During the media address, Principal Chief Engineer Ganesh Chettri said that the department does not have any SMS, call or online facilities at present to inform consumers regarding payment or disconnection of their power connection. Such messages on consumers’ mobile numbers are an online scam, he added.
“Consumers must ignore such messages so as to not become victims of online fraud. Complaints have been reported by electricity consumers who have been receiving messages on their mobile numbers informing them that their power will be disconnected as their previous month’s bill was not updated. The fraudsters then asked consumers to contact a number,” said Chettri.
Chettri, who is also the secretary of the department, urged consumers to stay alert and be aware of such messages and calls. He suggested consumers to report to the police and the department in case they were contacted regarding such matters.
Some technical glitches have been coming up due to the ongoing transition from conventional to the modernisation of various services and systems. The introduction of online payment of bills and the installation of prepaid meters has created panic among some people and some fraudsters have been trying to take advantage and conning consumers, the power department clarified.
Chief engineer Jigmey Namgyal said, “The service of online payment of bills was currently down as the contract of the old IT service providers had ended. A new service provider has taken over so the passing of data was taking some time, especially from the security point of view. The department was hopeful that the entire process would be completed and that online payment service would resume by the end of Durga Puja. But there was some delay in the circulation of electricity bills due to technical glitches and other issues. This has been addressed and the system is working fine now.”
Superintendent Engineer MR Thakur informed about the ongoing installation process of prepaid meters in consumer houses in eight towns in the state. A total of 9650 prepaid meters have already been installed, which covers around 36.21 per cent of consumers so far.
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