Red-tapism in PDD delays privatisation of electricity bill distribution

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, July 30: Plan of government to privatise electricity bill distribution and revenue collection in urban centres of Jammu and Kashmir about three years back failed to take off due to red-tapism which mars functioning of Power Development Department (PDD).

Nearly 100 youth were trained to handle the field work such as bill distribution, meter reading and preparing the list of defaulters by the government so that they can provide a helping hand to department in curbing the electricity theft, but project failed because officials never took it seriously.

Officials said that though government is talking about privitisation of revenue collection and has engaged consultant Price Water House Cooper for restructuring of the department, including its unbundling and corporatization but even this small project did not move beyond the planning stage.

Manpower shortage is a major challenge when it comes to deal with the consumers in Jammu and Kashmir. Under the plan, department had decided to give franchise to local youth, to ensure that recovery process is streamlined.

As per the model, the franchisee were not to deal with cash and consumers had to pay their bills in banks, their role was to assist the field staff of PDD to keep an eye on their respective areas and how people use the electricity.

PDD has the staff strength of nearly 30,000 but as there has been no reorganisation in past three decades and expansion of the infrastructure, it is proving insufficient to deal with the consumers. Most of the maintenance work is already dependent on daily wagers to keep the electricity supply running in the state.

Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses has shown a substantial increase in past decade. The losses have increased from 46.98 per cent in 2005-06 to 64.11 per cent in the financial year 2012-13, with State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) blaming it mostly on the theft by the consumers.

"The reasons for existence of high level of T&D losses is the practice of rampant hooking of LT lines across the State which is not being properly checked by the Department. Even where meters are installed, various means are adopted by a large number of consumers for by-passing and tampering the meters”, said an official.

When contacted, Minister for State (MoS), Power Vikar Rasool Wani said that government had bigger plans to curb losses and improve revenue realization.

He however said “No time limit has been frame for the completion of the project and the project for privatization of electricity bill is yet to be implemented” he added.