VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (APSPDCL) is losing heavily due to power thefts in its jurisdiction across eight districts.
According to the company's vigilance wing report, a large number of people were consuming power illegally. Except in Guntur and Krishna, in all the other six districts, the company is losing 25 to 30 per cent power due to the thefts. The percentage of thefts in Guntur and Krishna districts is 16 per cent and 19.5 per cent respectively.
The metered sales of the company in Anantapur district is 47 per cent. In Kadapa it is 50 per cent, Chittoor-57 per cent, Ongole-67.5 per cent, Kurnool-69 per cent and Nellore district-71 per cent. In Guntur district, metered sale of power is 84 per cent which is highest while it is 81.5 per cent in Krishna district.
Speaking to mediapersons here on Saturday, Superintending Engineer, Vigilance of APSPDCL V Ravi admitted theft of power in huge volume.
However, the SE said that vigilance wing was conducting surprise checks to rein in power thefts. During the current fiscal from April 2015 to February 2016, a total of Rs 27.17crore penalty amount was collected by registering 37,142 cases. Due to the court cases and appeals, 48 per cent of penalty amount has not been collected, Ravi explained. "In 2015-16, we have registered 124 cases in aqua sector and collected Rs 3 crore as penalty," he added.
Discom to crack the whip on power thieves
"We have noticed that there are several people consuming power illegally by various means in some mandal headquarters in Krishna district including Nuzvid, Vijayawada Rural, Penuganchiprolu and Agirapalle. We have conducted surprise checks and registered 166 cases and collected Rs 12.7 lakh from them," Ravi said.
The company has decided to maintain at least 84 per cent of metered sales in Krishna district on par with Guntur district. The surprise checks will be intensified to achieve 84 per cent of metered sale power. The power theft in various ways include drawing power directly from electric poles, tampering of meters and using domestic power for commercial operations, he added. Vigilance CI Ch Ravikanth and DE Vigilance KV Krishna were also present.