South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd has initiated individual search of premises of around 40,000 consumers who have not paid bills for the past year or more.

There are around four lakh consumers under Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu), which supplies power to the city.

“The distribution company has identified around 40,000 consumers for having defaulted in paying bills. We have constituted special teams, which would conduct door-to-door visits of these consumers to verify the reasons behind their failure to do so,” North Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd and South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd managing director Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said.

He added: “The teams would try to realise the dues from the consumers concerned and if they do not pay up, their power supply would be snapped.”

Agarwal said the power company would start snapping connections from January and so these users have time to deposit the bill.

“If we start getting revenue from these 40,000 consumers, Pesu’s collections would increase significantly,” the managing director added.