Lok Sabha Question No. 1196 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-09
Subject: Menace of Illegal Electricity Connections
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Bidyut Baran Mahato, Sambhajirao Mane Dhairyasheel, Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik, Shrirang Appa Barne, Sudheer Gupta, Prataprao  Jadhav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1196 ANSWERED ON 09.02.2023

## MENACE OF ILLEGAL ELECTRICITY CONNECTIONS

1196.  SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

SHRI DHAIRYASHEEL SAMBHAJIRAO MANE:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the persistent menace  of illegal  electricity connections and theft of power across the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether theft of power has an adverse effect on the development of power sector and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  response  of  the  Government  thereto;
- (c) the details of the Amount of Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses incurred due to  illegal  connections  and  other  cases  of  theft  of  power  during  each  of  the  last  three years and the current year, State/UT-wise;
- (d) the details of the punitive action proposed against guilty persons;
- (e) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government to stop theft of electricity in the country; and
- (f) whether the Government in consultation with the States  propose to prepare any plan to check theft of power in the country and if so, the details thereof?

## A N S W E R

THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY (SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) & (b) : Illegal electricity connections and theft of power affects the financial health of the distribution companies with consequential effects like poor quality of power. The Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) loss is one of the key indicators of DISCOMs performance, which includes impact of power theft also. It is the prime responsibility of respective Distribution Utilities to take adequate measures to stop power theft. However, Govt. of India supplements the efforts of States/ distribution utilities by providing funding for  the  purpose  under  various  schemes  launched  from  time  to  time.    To  facilitate  the reduction of AT&C losses and to improve power distribution system, the Government has launched the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS). This Scheme aims to reduce the AT&C losses, on pan-India basis, in the range of 12-15% by 2024-25.

- (c) : Illegal  connection and theft of electricity is one of the several reasons for AT&C  losses  of  the  power  distribution  utilities.  As  per  the  'Report  on  Performance  of Power Utilities' published by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) total AT&C losses in the country  attributable  to  various  factors  during  the  FY  2018-19  to  FY  2020-22  are  given below:

| National Level Figures   |   FY 2018-19 |   FY 2019-20 |   FY 2020-21 |   FY 2021-22 (Provisional) |
|--------------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|----------------------------|
| AT&C Losses (%)          |        21.64 |        20.73 |        22.32 |                      16.68 |

The State-wise and Utility-wise details of AT&C Losses are given at Annexure.

- (d) to (f) : Following steps have been taken by the Government of India to control the theft of power:
- i. There  are  specific  provisions  in  the  Electricity  Act  2003  (Section  126  and Sections  135  to  140)  relating  to  theft  and  unauthorized  use  of  electricity, including  stringent  penal  provisions  and  speedy  trial  for  such  offences  by Special Courts (Part XV of the Electricity Act 2003);
- ii. Under  RDSS,  there  is  a  provision  for  providing  financial  assistance  to  the eligible DISCOMs  for  installation of pre-paid smart  meters  for 25 crore consumers and system metering with communication features by March 2025. Under the scheme, advanced ICT like Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI/ML) would be leveraged to analyse data generated through smart meters to detect  the  theft  cases  and  to  prepare  actionable  MIS  from  system  generated energy  accounting  reports  so  as  to  enable  the  DISCOMs  to  take  informed decisions on power theft along with loss reduction.
- iii. Also  under  the  scheme,  financial  assistance  is  being  provided  to  the  eligible Discoms  for  upgradation  of  distribution  infrastructure  including  measures  for reduction of losses and theft by use of ABC cable/UG cable/HVDS etc. This will facilitate to reduce  the  losses  of  distribution utilities including theft of electricity.
- iv. As per Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, the distribution licensee shall arrange to display on its website feeder wise outage data, efforts made for minimizing  outages,  prevention  of  theft  or  unauthorized  use  of  electricity  or tampering,  distress  or  damage  to  electrical  plant,  electric  lines  or  meter  and results obtained during the year.
- v. Tariff  Policy  2016  envisages  that  in  order  to  reduce  theft  of  power,  the distribution  companies  should  have  enabling  feature  like  distribution  SCADA with distribution management system and energy audit functions.

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1196 ANSWERED IN THE LOK SABHA ON 09.02.2023

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## State-wise and utility-wise details of AT&C Losses

|                           | 2018-19     | 2019-20     | 2020-21     |
|---------------------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
| Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 23.43       | 23.34       | 51.94       |
| Andhra Pradesh            | 25.67       | 10.77       | 27.25       |
| Arunachal Pradesh         | 52.53       | 40.49       | 44.87       |
| Assam                     | 20.19       | 23.39       | 18.73       |
| Bihar                     | 33.30       | 39.95       | 35.33       |
| Chandigarh                | 13.50       | 15.86       | 11.89       |
| Chhattisgarh              | 24.96       | 18.46       | 20.40       |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli      | 5.45        | 3.56        | 5.17        |
| Daman & Diu               | 6.19        | 4.07        | 4.48        |
| Goa                       | 17.61       | 11.41       | 12.94       |
| Gujarat                   | 14.05       | 11.79       | 11.91       |
| Haryana                   | 18.08       | 18.26       | 17.05       |
| Himachal Pradesh          | 12.46       | 13.33       | 14.02       |
| Jammu & Kashmir           | 49.94       | 60.46       | 59.28       |
| Jharkhand                 | 28.33       | 37.13       | 41.36       |
| Karnataka                 | 19.82       | 17.58       | 15.36       |
| Kerala                    | 9.10        | 13.12       | 7.76        |
| Lakshadweep               | 26.82       | 13.69       | 11.63       |
| Madhya Pradesh            | 36.63       | 30.38       | 41.47       |
| Maharashtra               | 15.80       | 19.24       | 26.55       |
| Manipur                   | 25.26       | 23.30       | 20.33       |
| Meghalaya                 | 35.22       | 31.67       | 30.88       |
| Mizoram                   | 16.20       | 20.66       | 36.53       |
| Nagaland                  | 65.73       | 64.79       | 60.39       |
| Odisha                    | 31.55       | 28.94       | 29.32       |
| Puducherry                | 19.77       | 18.45       | 19.92       |
| Punjab                    | 11.28       | 14.35       | 18.03       |
| Rajasthan                 | 28.25       | 29.86       | 26.23       |
| Sikkim                    | 41.83       | 28.77       | 29.37       |
| Tamil Nadu                | 17.86 18.41 | 15.00 21.92 | 13.81 13.33 |
| Telangana Tripura         | 38.03       | 35.71       | 37.36       |
| Uttar Pradesh             | 33.19       | 30.05       | 27.45       |
| Uttarakhand               | 17.45       | 20.35       | 15.39       |
| West Bengal               | 23.00       | 20.40       | 21.35       |
| State Sector              | 22.44       | 21.50       | 23.01       |
| Delhi                     | 9.12        | 8.26        | 8.87        |
| BRPL                      | 9.04        | 8.33        | 9.70        |
| BYPL                      | 10.76       | 8.54        | 9.41        |
| TPDDL                     | 7.99        | 7.96        | 7.39        |
| Gujarat                   | 5.20        | 4.59        | 6.46        |
| Torrent Power Ahmadabad   | 5.81        | 5.07        | 6.76        |
| Surat                     | 3.71        | 3.43        | 5.66        |
| Torrent Power Maharashtra | 8.11        | 9.06        | 8.85        |
|                           | 8.11        | 9.06        | 8.85        |
| AEML                      |             |             |             |
| Uttar Pradesh             | 9.36 9.36   | 9.73 9.73   | 9.77 9.77   |
| NPCL West Bengal          | 9.23        | 9.25        | 13.17       |
| CESC                      | 9.73        | 9.52        | 14.04       |
| Private                   | 8.29        |             |             |
| Sector                    | 21.64       | 7.95        | 9.27        |
| Grand Total               |             | 20.73       | 22.32       |

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