Lok Sabha Question No. 123 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-02
Subject: Cases of Theft of Power
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Jagdambika Pal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.123

## ANSWERED ON 02.02.2023

## CASES OF THEFT OF POWER

123.   SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the cases of theft of power reported in various parts of the country;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  steps  taken/proposed to be taken  by the Government to stop the theft of power;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to introduce an advanced meter to address the issue of theft of power;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the details of the theft of power by the commercial consumers during the last three years?

## A N S W E R

## THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

(SHRI R.K. SINGH)

- (a) & (b) : The Government is aware of the cases of theft of power, as reported by the distribution  licensees,  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  The  measures  taken  by  the Government of India, to control the theft of power are as follows:
- (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;
- (ii) Ministry of Power launched Reforms-based and Results-linked, Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), to improve the operational efficiencies and financial  sustainability  of  all  DISCOMs/  Power  Departments.  This  Scheme  aims  to reduce the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses, which includes impact  of  power  theft  also,  on  pan-India  basis,  in  the  range  of  12-15%  by  2024-25. The scheme includes the provisions for funding for loss reduction measures, up-gradation of  distribution  infrastructure  including  IT  interventions,  installation  of  pre-paid  Smart Meters in the country, which would facilitate in the reduction of AT&C losses.
- (c)  &  (d)  :     The  RDSS,  with  an  outlay  of  Rs.  3,03,758  crore  and  estimated  GBS  from Central Government of Rs. 97,631 crore for the duration of 5 years i.e. from (FY 2021-22 to FY  2025-26),  has  been  formulated  with  the  objective  of  improving  the  quality  and reliability of power supply to the consumers.

Prepaid  Smart  Metering  is  a  critical  intervention  envisaged  under  the RDSS, with an estimated outlay of ~Rs 1,50,000 Cr with ~GBS of 23,000 Cr and 25 crore prepaid Smart Meters are targeted to be installed during the Scheme period. Along with the prepaid Smart Metering for consumers, system metering at feeder and DT level with communicating feature along with associated Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) would be implemented, thereby facilitating the Discoms for automatic measurement of energy  flows,  at  all  levels,  as  well  as  energy  accounting  and  auditing  without  any human interference. Smart Metering is to be done in PPP mode so that the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) can be enforced for proper energy accounting for identification of defaulting consumers theft prone pockets, instances of meter tampering. Under this scheme, advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) like Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) would be leveraged to analyse data generated through Smart Meters and Information Technology/Operational Technology (IT/OT) devices  including System 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, demand forecasting, asset management etc. At  present,  under  the  RDSS,  ~20.46  crore  prepaid  Smart  Meters,  ~54.12 lakh  numbers  of  DT  Meters  and  ~1.98  lakh  numbers  of  Feeder  Meters  have  been sanctioned across 28 States/46 Discoms, with a total sanctioned cost of Rs. 1,35,001.72 Cr and GBS of Rs. 24,908.7 Cr. (e) : The  commercial  losses  due  to  power  theft,  billing  efficiency,  collection efficiency  are  part  of  the  AT&C  losses.  The  Power  Finance  Corporation  (PFC)  has published a report titled 'Performance of State Power Utilities', wherein the details of Billing Efficiency, Collection Efficiency and AT&C loss % for the year FY from 2018-19 to 2020-21 are given below:

| Parameter                 |   FY 2018-19 |   FY 2019-20 |   FY 2020-21 |   FY 2021-2022 (Provisional) |
|---------------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|------------------------------|
| Billing Efficiency (%)    |        83.9  |        85.41 |        84.07 |                        85.75 |
| Collection Efficiency (%) |        93.39 |        92.8  |        92.4  |                        97.16 |
| AT&C loss %               |        21.64 |        20.73 |        22.32 |                        16.68 |

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