Odisha aims to restrict power loss

Bhubaneswar, Feb 26 (IANS) In order to provide quality electricity, the Odisha government is planning to bring down Aggregated Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses to 37 percent by this March-end, an official said Thursday.

AT&C losses have remained at 39 percent so far. Holding a high-level meeting with the power distribution utilities, chief secretary G.C. Pati Thursday directed the discoms to focus on reduction of power distribution losses, which has been a concern for the government.

He advised them to replace defective meters, convert power line wires to Aerial Bunched (AB) cables and improve the performance of billing system.

According to sources, AT&C losses in Odisha have been brought down from 56.71 percent in 1999-2000 to 41.21 percent in 2013-14.

In the current year, losses have been reduced to 39 percent and the government has targeted bringing it down to 37 percent by March 2015.

While the number of consumers has increased to 56,76,710 in the state, the government is taking measures for infrastructure upgradation in the power sector.

Till February this year, a total amount of Rs.680 crore has been received under CAPEX (capital expenditure) plan, including the state share of Rs.305 crore while the utilization has been Rs.459 crore.

Aiming to reduce the losses in power distribution, Pati has directed the discoms to apply Information Technology (IT) in billing and fixing metering devices at different levels of distribution.

The union power ministry has asked the state to work out the AT&C loss trajectory for power distribution companies which envisage progressive loss reduction of two to 2.5 percent every year.

The ministry has set a target of reducing the loss to 20.5 percent by 2021-22 -- the end of the 13th Plan period.