Lok Sabha Question No. 481 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-06
Subject: Power Line Loss
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Shri Arun Govil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.481 ANSWERED ON 06.02.2025

## POWER LINE LOSS

†481. SHRI ARUN GOVIL:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of present status of power line loss in the country, State-wise; and
- (b) the  details  of  action  plan  likely  to  be  formulated  by  the  Government  to identify defaulter areas of electricity theft and to make recovery?

## A N S W E R

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF POWER

(SHRI SHRIPAD NAIK)

(a) : The losses that occur in the system in the process of supplying electricity to  the  consumers are in the nature of technical and commercial losses.  The details of present status of Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses in the country, state-wise is provided at Annexure.

(b) : Distribution Utilities viz. Distribution Companies (DISCOMs)/Power Departments  of  the  State/Union  Territory  (UT)  Government  concerned,  are responsible for reduction of transmission and distribution losses in its area of operation.  Government  of  India  has  been  supplementing  the  efforts  of  the States/UTs through various schemes from time to time.

To  help  States  improve  the  quality  and  reliability  of  power  supply  to consumers,  Government  of  India  (GoI)  launched  the  Revamped  Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), in July 2021, with an outlay of Rs. 3,03,758 crore. The scheme  aims  to  reduce  the  AT&C  losses  to  pan-India  levels  of  12-15%  and Average Cost of Supply and Average Revenue Realized (ACS-ARR) gap to zero.

.......2.

Under  the  Scheme,  Projects  worth  Rs.  2.78  lakh  crore.  have  been sanctioned. Loss reduction Infrastructure projects amounting to Rs. 1.48 lakh crore.  have  been  sanctioned  which  includes  works  for  replacement  of  bare conductors  with  covered  conductors,  laying  Low  Tension  Aerial  Bunched  (LT AB)  cables  upgradation/augmentation  of  Distribution  transformers  (DT)/substations,  etc.  Further,  19.79  crore  prepaid  smart  consumer  meters,  2.11  lakh communicable feeder meters and 52.53 lakhs Distribution Transformer communicable meters have been sanctioned.

Prepaid  smart  metering  is  one  of  the  critical  interventions  envisaged under RDSS to improve the AT&C losses. It allows the Distribution Utilities to timely collect the revenues and measure energy flows at all levels, without any human  interference.  Proper  and  accurate  energy  accounting  is  the  key  to identification of high loss and theft prone areas, which will improve the billing and collection efficiencies of the utilities significantly.

GoI has issued various advisories and Standard operating Procedures for prepaid smart metering. As per the advisory issued, prepaid smart meters may be  prioritised  in  the  Government  establishments  including  offices/institutions/ local bodies, etc. and Commercial, Industrial and high load consumers. Based on experience, the smart prepaid meters may be installed for other category of consumers.

As a result of measures taken by the Government, the AT&C losses have come down from 21.9% in Financial Year 2021 to 15.4% in Financial Year 2023.

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## ANNEXURE

## ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  481 ANSWERED IN THE LOK SABHA ON 06.02.2025 *************

## Table: Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) Losses for years 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23

|                           | 2020-21   | 2021-22   | 2022-23   |
|---------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| State Sector              | 22.6      | 16.5      | 15.8      |
| Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 51.9      | 19.8      | 19.8      |
| Andaman & Nicobar PD      | 51.9      | 19.8      | 19.8      |
| Andhra Pradesh            | 20.4      | 10.6      | 8.0       |
| Arunachal Pradesh         | 51.8      | 47.8      | 51.7      |
| Assam                     | 18.7      | 17.0      | 16.2      |
| Bihar                     | 34.4      | 31.8      | 25.0      |
| Chandigarh                | 13.8      | 13.3      | -         |
| Chhattisgarh              | 18.1      | 18.1      | 16.1      |
| Delhi                     | 24.8      | 8.3       | 10.7      |
| Goa                       | 12.9      | 6.0       | 11.9      |
| Gujarat                   | 11.6      | 9.7       | 10.7      |
| Haryana                   | 17.5      | 13.9      | 12.0      |
| Himachal Pradesh          | 14.0      | 12.9      | 10.6      |
| Jammu & Kashmir           | 59.3      | -         | -         |
| Jharkhand                 | 43.1      | 30.8      | 30.3      |
| Karnataka                 | 16.0      | 11.5      | 13.9      |
| Kerala                    | 7.8       | 7.7       | 7.1       |
| KSEBL                     | 7.8       | 7.7       | 7.0       |
| TCED                      | 13.5      | 16.5      | 7.1       |
| Ladakh                    | -         | 48.3      | 30.3      |
| Lakshadweep               | 11.6      | -         | -         |
| Madhya Pradesh            | 41.7      | 21.4      | 20.6      |
| Maharashtra               | 27.7      | 16.5      | 18.6      |
| Manipur                   | 24.6      | 30.6      | 13.8      |
| Meghalaya                 | 23.4      | 25.5      | 24.0      |
| Mizoram                   | 29.0      | 36.2      | 26.3      |
| Nagaland                  | 47.1      | 43.6      | 45.8      |
| Puducherry                | 20.1      | 11.1      | 17.5      |
| Punjab                    | 18.5      | 11.7      | 11.3      |
| PSPCL                     | 18.5      | 11.7      | 11.3      |

..........2.

| Rajasthan                      |   26.2 |   17.5 |   15.9 |
|--------------------------------|--------|--------|--------|
| Sikkim                         |   98.4 |   30.8 |   36.7 |
| Tamil Nadu                     |   11.8 |   11.4 |   10.3 |
| Telangana                      |   13.3 |   10.6 |   18.6 |
| Tripura                        |   37.4 |   31.2 |   28.2 |
| Uttar Pradesh                  |   27.1 |   31   |   22.3 |
| Uttarakhand                    |   15.4 |   14.1 |   15.3 |
| West Bengal                    |   21.3 |   16.7 |   17.3 |
| Private Sector                 |   13.9 |   13.5 |   10.9 |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman |    5   |    3.8 |    3.6 |
| Delhi                          |    8.8 |    8   |    7.1 |
| Gujarat                        |    6.9 |    4.5 |    3.9 |
| Maharashtra                    |    8.9 |    6.7 |    6.5 |
| Odisha                         |   27.4 |   31.4 |   21.9 |
| Uttar Pradesh                  |    9.8 |    8.5 |    8.4 |
| West Bengal                    |   13.2 |    7.7 |    8.1 |
| Grand Total                    |   21.9 |   16.2 |   15.4 |

(Source: Report on performance of power utilities for the years 2020-21 to 202223 published by Power Finance Corporation Ltd.)

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