Tuesday, August 21, 2012

POWER: TRANSMISSION LOSS

T&D losses and power theft have to be addressed in a flagrantly strict manner – arrest the power stealers and publicise their conviction

They not only trouble consumers but also lead to huge financial losses. Assocham estimates that 1/3rd of the investments in the 11th five year plan is wasted because of T&D losses.

Regulation over return has hurt private interests in T&D which needs to change. Privatization of the distribution process has helped states like Delhi and parts of Maharashtra, but the model has not been successful in Orissa. The reason is that state electricity boards play a role in regulating tariffs and political interests come into play, which discourages private companies from investing. States like Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, which are considering giving their power grid to private hands, must keep this in mind.

But there’s a shortcut to all this. Start arresting power stealers and publicise this in a big way to reduce power theft. It worked for reducing drunk-driving, it’ll work for this too.