Report by Orissadiary correspondent; Bhubaneswar : In a bid to mobilise funds, the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) on Friday launched a One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme to collect arrears which had mounted to Rs 1,200 crore.

The electricity distribution company said the OTS will provide a rebate of 40 per cent and also installment facilities to try and recover arrears from defaulters. Briefing newsmen here, Swapan Dasgupta, CEO of CESU, said that the company has drawn up plans for massive upgradation and infrastructure development. The plan is to pump in Rs 1,219 crore by the year 2012-13. This amount will go towards infrastructure improvement, upgradation and expansion. On expansion alone, the company intends to invest Rs 562 crore while Rs 657 crore will be spent for loss reduction programmes.

Presently the transmission and distribution loss is 40 per cent, Dasgupta added.Besides OTS, the company expects the state government to provide financial assistance and it will also borrow to fund its expansion and upgradation plan.The thrust will be on new primary sub stations, new transformers, upgradation of lines, conductors and the replacement of meters etc.

A new billing system with better accuracy than the existing one will also be introduced, the CEO pointed out.

CESU has 11 lakh consumers and with the rural electrification programmes being taken up, this consumer base will double in two years time, the CEO said.