Lucknow: Over Rs 214cr was collected against electricity bills at billing counters of UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) by 6pm on Friday. UPPCL accepted old currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 against electricity bills till Friday midnight.It was more than four times what UPPCL collects everyday through bill deposition. The collection everyday is about Rs 55cr. “With six more hours to go, we expect to collect more,” said a senior official.The collection figure was being recorded every hour by UPPCL. The figure, however, showed only the amount collected at the counters where people queued up and paid. The figure for rural areas will be worked out post-midnight, said the official.In Lucknow, it was around Rs 25cr by 6pm which was collected as electricity bill. Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration (LESA) collects about Rs 8cr everyday as bill amount. A bill worth Rs 17 lakh was paid in Lucknow on the day.“Many defaulters also made payments. Dues pending against several consumers for the past several months have been substantially recovered. But we require time to say exactly how many defaulters turned up and what was the amount they deposited. Right now, the idea is to not disturb the system and let it work smoothly,” said a Lesa official.Nobody was stopped from paying or questioned on the huge amount of payment made by him. The bill was charged to the nearest value since there was not enough change to refund. The extra amount would be adjusted in the next month’s bill.Consumers speak:Consumers said they waited for hours to pay their bills. “I paid my bill through cheque at esuvidha centre since it did not accept the old currency notes,” said Anurag Kumar. Some of the consumers paid their bill on Thursday night only. “To avoid the long queue on Friday, I paid the bill on Thursday night itself. The counters were open till late night,” said Rajkumar Singh. Mahesh Shankar had been in the queue outside the billing counter since 10am till late noon. “I had to anyway stand in queue, be it bank or electricity billing counter.”