There is a case for the government to first set its own house in order, as nearly a third of the supply is lost in transmission and distribution
MUMBAI: Set the AC thermostat 2 degrees higher, change the light bulbs to CFL, turn off TV sets at the power source: everyday, consumers in the city are exhorted to conserve power as load-shedding looms this summer.
And yet, what has almost gone unnoticed is that as much as one-third of the state’s power is lost during transmission and distribution, mostly due to theft. So should the onus of mitigating the power deficit not be on government too?
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India thinks so. It points out that the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) had inspected a mere 3% of its connections between 2001 and 2006. “The quantum of checking was thus insignificant.
As a result, illegal use of electricity remained undetected.” Little wonder that transmission and distribution losses amounted to 32.5% of the available power in the year ending March 2006, which was more than three times as much as that of Andhra Pradesh.
Politicians attribute various reasons for this. “In rural areas, thefts take place because people are not getting electricity connections. Over four lakh applications have been pending for six years,” said NCP MLA Gurunath Kulkarni.
“We had been concentrating on power generation. Now we will concentrate on distribution,” says power minister Dilip Walse-Patil.
Political Patronage
Experts have a different take on it. “Politicians rationalise thefts,” says Asoke Basak, former MSEDCL chairman. “When we started disconnecting illegal meters in
Bhiwandi, the police commissioner was afraid of a law and order problem.
A power secretary who wanted to disconnect illegal meters was shunted out. There is political patronage,” says Madhav Godbole, former Union home secretary.
Worse than wastage
Almost 3,000 to 3,500 MW of power is lost in transmission and distribution. That amounts to almost two-thirds of the current shortfall. It is also three times the amount of power that can be saved from conservation measures.
Compare Maharashtra’s 33 per cent transmission and distribution loss rate with that of the US (6 per cent) and UK(8 per cent).
Franchising Solution
Ajay Bhushan Pandey, MSEDCL MD, admits his own staff is involved in theft. “We are now franchising the areas where theft is high,” he says.
The power distribution in Bhiwandi, for instance, which had an astounding 70per cent loss record, was franchised to Torrent Power in January this year. Already, Rs7 crore has been recovered from illegal users.
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