GUWAHATI, Feb 13 - Minister of State for Power Pallab Lochan Das today said the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) is incurring a loss of Rs 55 crore monthly, mostly due to lack of proper infrastructure and modern equipment that has led to power thefts and the government is now planning to introduce prepaid meters to minimise the revenue loss.
�The State�s produces about 270 MW and 75 per cent of the power requirement is bought from outside. The APDCL purchases power to the tune of Rs 330 crore every month. Of these, Rs 40 crore goes towards payment of salaries, Rs 20 crore on pension and Rs 10 crore on other expenses.
�While the total expenditure is around Rs 400 crore, revenue collected from power charges is around Rs 315 crore. We get subsidies worth Rs 30 crore and hence there is a net loss of Rs 55 crore every month,� Das told the House during the Zero Hour, after AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam raised the issue of an alleged scam in installation of digital meters in the State.
The minister said that of the 19 power circles in the State, only four were profit-making � Guwahati I & II, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. �The department is incurring a loss of Rs 30 crore due to power thefts alone,� he said.
Das said the APDCL will initially install prepaid meters in five towns as part of a pilot project. The prepaid meters, he said, will ensure transparency as there will be no scope for tampering. �We also won�t need extra manpower. Consumers will be able to recharge the meters just as they do in case of mobiles,� he said.
The minister also said the State will soon launch the Urja Mitra app, an initiative of the Union Ministry of Power, which provides outage management and notifications platform for dissipating the outage information to power distribution consumers across India through SMS/calls/push notifications.
�Consumers will be able to get information regarding shutdowns or usage of power through it,� he added.
