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Rs 30 cr monthly deficit due to power theft

By The Assam Tribune

GUWAHATI, June 22 - The Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) has been facing a deficit of Rs 30 crore per month due to power theft, which causes 22 per cent power loss. Last year, the public sector power company earned Rs 3,900 crore as annual revenue, said Minister of State for Power Pallab Lochan Das while addressing mediapersons at the Bijuli Bhawan here today.

Because of this problem, only four of the 19 electrical circles � Guwahati-I and II, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh � of the power company are earning profits, while the other 15 are incurring losses, he said.

Moreover, the average generation or purchasing cost of the power company is Rs 6.2 per unit, whereas it is selling per unit of power at the average price of Rs 5.73.

The power company is planning a mechanism to overcome the deficit and also to check power theft. It is launching an aggressive campaign against power theft from next month, he said.

Seeking public cooperation in checking the menace of�power theft, he said that at present a telephone number 1912 has been activated for the people of the Guwahati and Nagaon electricity circles for the purpose of providing information about incidents of power theft. It will be activated for the people of Jorhat Electricity Circle from July 1 and by 2017-18, it will be activated for the people of all towns of the State.

There is no load-shedding in the State nowadays. There are some transmission problems and these problems are being tackled. Old conductors are being replaced with new ones and this exercise requires shutdown, which is viewed by the common people as load-shedding, he said, adding, efforts are on to provide electricity to each of the State�s households by 2018.

There are 30 lakh households, spread over 26,000 villages of the State, which remain to be provided with electricity. The State government has decided to cover all these households under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gramjyoti Yojana by 2018. The issue has been taken up with the Central government and the latter has assured of its support in this respect, said Das.

Moreover, smart meters, which are tamper-proof, will be installed in the households being covered under the Dindayal Upadhaya Gramjyoti Yojana in the next phase. Old meters will also be replaced with the smart ones in phases, he said.

From July, the State government will replace the traditional electric bulbs in its offices with LED bulbs. It has also been providing LED bulbs to consumers at Rs 100 per bulb, against the market price of Rs 250, he said. � Staff Reporter

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