Stopping power losses

Annual APR of officers to be based on performance in Energy Accounting System

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Sept 06: Trying to plug the power losses, Annual Performance Report (APR) of officers and engineers of Power Development Department (PDD) will be now based on their performance in energy accounting system started by government from this fiscal.

A senior officer from PDD said that most of the power theft can be stopped if field staff and engineers take active part in detecting the power pilferage and taking prompt action. “At times the power theft is being overlooked by the officers and if they are given targets and made responsible for losses, they are likely to perform well”, he said.

Jammu and Kashmir is the single state in where highest 62 percent energy is lost due to power pilferage and T&D losses.

Officials said that PDD has also asked the government to give Rs 65.05 crore for purchasing 3.15 lakh electronic meters for 100 percent metering of the consumers in Jammu region. At the moment out of 6 lakh consumers in Jammu, only 2.85 lakh are fully metered.

Due to failure of the government to stop the power losses, even the Planning Commission of India (PCI) has repeatedly expressed his dismay over the failure to achieve the targets.

The new system envisages tallying of electricity units distributed from a particular feeder during a specified period with revenue collections made at the end of the month. If any mis-match is found in the energy supplied and revenue realized, the concerned officers and field staff will be held responsible for the lapse.

Minister for Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather said, “Officers need to perform as state’s economy cannot afford this kind of huge deficit for along. Situation demands self introspection and the onus lies on the engineers and field staff of power department”.

Rather said that this mechanism will make the staff manning the feeders and supplying electricity to a particular locality more accountable who in turn would ensure that power theft is curbed.

As per a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) executed with Government of India under Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme (APDRP), the state government was to bring down T&D losses to 25 percent by December 2006.

But contrary to it, the losses gone up from 45 percent in 2005-06 to over 62 percent in 2010-11 due to unsatisfactory implementation of the Centrally sponsored power reform programmes.