NEW DELHI: The power discoms of the national capital have been unable to find a solution to oil theft. According to BSES, almost 88,000 litres of oil was stolen from 120 of its transformers in the last 18 months. The power company has therefore started installing smart sensors on transformers in some areas to stop any theft.
According to the discom, removing oil from transformers can not only damage the machine, but can also cause serious power outages. This also poses a risk of leaking oil from a transformer leading to a major fire. One of the measures being taken by the company to stop theft of oil is installation of IoT (Internet based sensors) on the transformer in select vulnerable pockets being targetted.
The moment, there is a deviation in the preset parameters, an alert goes to the control centre which send a team of officials to the site. This has been started at a few locations but the BSES plans to expand its reach. Over the last 18 months, oil amounting to around 88,000 liters has been stolen from over 120 transformers in BSES areas.
Of these, around 40 cases are from April 2020, informed the company. “These incidents of oil theft can cause a lot of inconvenience to the residents. We appeal to our consumers to be vigilant and if they or the colony security guards find anyone suspicious near an electricity substation/transformer, they should check the person’s ID and immediately alert the agency” said a BSES spokesperson on Tuesday.