The performance of on-field officials of power companies will be monitored regularly on the basis of their revenue collection from consumers.

North Bihar Power Distribution Company and South Bihar Power Distribution Company, which supply electricity to consumers and are responsible for bill collection, aim to enhance revenue collection through the move. "Perform or perish is my message to field officials, as we need to enhance our revenue collection," said Pratyaya Amrit, chairman-cum-managing director, Bihar State Power Holding Company.

According to the 2016-17 figures, the two power companies' monthly revenue generation stood at around Rs 527 crore against an expenditure of around Rs 900 crore, including establishment cost and money spent on power purchase.

If one adds the subsidy of Rs 2,952 crore the state government will provide for 2017-18, i.e. around Rs 246 crore per month, the power companies cannot break even at the current pace of revenue collection. The sum of the current level of average monthly collection and the government subsidy would make around Rs 773 crore, way short of the expenses.

"I have told officials that in the current fiscal, we need to achieve the monthly revenue generation level of at least Rs 675 crore and no laxity would be tolerated on this front," Amrit said. "Even disciplinary action would be taken against those found lax on revenue collection."

The power companies, which had around 94 million customers at the end of 2016-17, are likely to have 120 million registered consumers by end-2017, when the goal of power to all households in Bihar is achieved. "Enhanced consumer base may lead to increase in revenue but one also has to take into account that more power would have to be supplied and to meet this demand, funds would have to be spent on power purchase," pointed out another senior power official.

According to estimates, the power companies, which are supplying around 3,700MW of electricity in the state at present, would supply well above 4,200MW of electricity by year-end to cater to the needs of consumers.

The official said steps were being taken to bridge the difference between expenses and revenue generation of power companies and one of them was introduction of spot-billing even in rural areas.