Power cuts looming, farmers in Maharashtra prepare for the worst

However, the rules are such that the farm sector — 30 per cent of the discom’s consumer base is in agriculture — ends up being worst affected. The MERC has specified zones based on the discom’s losses and collection efficiency level. And zones with the highest losses and lowest collection efficiency levels face the worst of the electricity rationing.

Incidentally, the losses are typically higher in Marathwada, parts of Vidarbha and Jalgaon. Outstanding bill amounts are the highest in the farm sector, too, making it the most vulnerable in case of a power shortage.

“During summers, crops need more water — if it took us five hours to water a field in December, it will now take us nine. This is anyway higher than the eight-hour supply we get and if there are outages, crops suffer,” said Karad.

To distribute the available power optimally among all consumers and to reduce the load during the day, the discom makes changes in supply timings to agricultural feeders.

“This means we have to completely change our timetable… so, we are raring to go as soon as electricity is available. Those who are caught off guard, lose the entire night and can only pump the next night,” said Vijay Bhonsale, a farmer from Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district.

“Every time there’s a shortage, the farmers are dealt with the first blow, as if it is not bad enough for us to water our fields in the middle of the night,” he added.

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For Rajkumar Taur from Partur in Jalna, the intermittent power supply is directly linked to the waning farm income and the agrarian crisis that plagues the state. “Farmers find themselves stuck in a loop. With faulty meters or no meters in place, they are first overbilled. Then they are tagged as bill defaulters and eventually become the first target for powercuts,” he added.

Farmers owe the MSEDCL Rs 17,017.73 crore — exclusive of subsidies from the government, which is almost 57 per cent of the total arrears. However, farmer and consumer groups have alleged that farmers’ bills have been inflated. In 2015, Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule had instituted a committee to verify these claims and a field study was commissioned to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. The committee is yet to submit a report.

In November last year, the government had announced a scheme for farmers to get their bills verified. However, documents accessed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act show that verified bills were 40 to 60 per cent lower than the actual bills in some cases.

Pratap Hogade, chairperson of the Maharashtra Electricity Consumer Association, had filed an RTI application to find out how many consumers had come forward for correction in their bills, and for the difference in the arrears before and after the correction. Responses were received from Pune, Sangli and Kolhapur circles and a difference of 47 per cent was noticed in the total arrear amounts in these areas after corrections.

“Most meters in the farms are defunct or faulty. In such cases, the discom calculates average usage or converts the usage to unmetered prices, which are higher,” said Karad.

A senior official from the MSEDCL said that the discom was conducting mass camps where farmers could get their meters verified. “The discom is creating awareness and has schemes for farmers to come and get their bills verified. In case the bills are found incorrect, the difference is credited to the farmer,” said the official.

When contacted, Bawankule said: “I am awaiting the three-member committee’s report. The IIT-B has already conducted a study on how many bills were expected to be incorrect. Now, I am considering commissioning a field audit of farmers’ meters.”