Facing losses, discom eyes ways to stop theft

Gurugram: The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), which supplies power to the residents of south Haryana, including those in Gurugram, is facing nearly 12.37% of aggregate transmission and commercial losses, and is working out ways to reduce it further, officials said on Thursday.

A senior DHBVN official said that the ratio of power theft in Gurugram is higher in comparison to other neighbouring districts catered by DHBVN.

They said, till a few years ago, it was the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (UHBVN) which had extremely high aggregate transmission and commercial (AT&C) losses of 21-22% while the DHBVN’s losses were lower and ranged from 15 to 17%.

However, with the passage of time, UHBVN brought its AT&C losses down to 9.15% by adopting various means and by a crackdown on power theft on a large scale. The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited has transmission losses of only 1.86%.

The calculation of loss is based on the power lost in transmission to ensure its supply till the last consumer and from continuous theft.

The data surfaced during the 31st state advisory committee meeting of the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) which was presided over by its chairman Nand Lal Sharma in Panchkula on Wednesday.

Officials said that Sharma asked the discoms to enhance efficiency and reduce losses in the power transmission and accelerate the adoption of the renewable energy source by encouraging the use of rooftop solar panels.

In the meeting, A Sreenivas, DHBVN managing director, said that the discom is presently facing aggregate transmission and commercial (AT&C) losses up to 12.37% which is on the higher side. “The target is to bring the losses within single digits and to stay within the limits prescribed by the HERC,” he said.

According to officials, presently the discom serves 42.58 lakh consumers across south Haryana which includes about 7.4 lakh consumers in old and new Gurugram of which 1.4 lakh are industrial or high-volume consumers.

“While the value of loss incurred in transmission could be brought down after much effort and by upgrading the infrastructure, the loss incurred due to power theft could be brought down easily with rigorous enforcement,” he said.

The officials said that they are supplying power in villages and other areas using aerial bundled cable in which the main cable is covered or wrapped using insulated phase conductors which cannot be tampered or used to steal power.