Utility measures click,distribution losses down

The official said the projected losses till the end of the fiscal were around 17.5 per cent due to increased demand from agricultural consumers. He said a one per cent decline in distribution losses could add over Rs 200 crore to the bottomline of the company.

The utility had launched regular anti-theft drives besides forming an all-women squad to take on power pilferage and to check meters. The MahaVitaran has also decided to go in for metering on distribution transformers and feeders as part of energy accounting measures,with around 2.25 lakh of the 2.94 lakh distribution transformers being covered so far and the rest to be covered by October.

The MahaVitaran had also launched an amnesty scheme for agricultural consumers for unauthorised extension of load,in which over 3 lakh horse power (HP) load was regularised. The utility also gave over one lakh connections to agricultural consumers in pockets that had a lot of “paid and pending applications”. Meter replacement drives have also been launched apart from bringing maximum meters outside houses.

“There are a number of problems in bringing the percentage of distribution losses below 20 per cent,” said the official.

The MahaVitaran’s monthly collection has risen from Rs 2,100 crore-Rs 2,200 crore last year to Rs 2,600 crore-Rs 2,700 crore this year.