THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The KSEB continues to be plagued by power theft and allied irregularities. The Anti-Power Theft Squad (APTS) of the board detected 4,252 cases of irregularities, including theft, wherein 4.7 crore units of power were siphoned off during the 2024-25 financial year. The collective drain resulted in the board picking up a pecuniary loss of Rs 40.6 crore.
As per the APTS documents accessed by TNIE, Rs 24 crore was remitted by the offenders to the board so far. The APTS, led by Prasanthan Kani B K IPS, detected the irregularities after conducting 31,213 inspections across the state.
The APTS detected 288 cases of power theft, which cost the board 12.5 lakh units of power. The assessed loss due to theft was Rs 2.27 crore, while Rs 2.6 crore was recovered, which included compounding fees also. Going by the documents, power theft was mostly reported in the northern districts. In March, 1.43 lakh units of power were reported stolen in the state. Of that, the northern districts accounted for 1.33 lakh units. As many as 41,000 cases were reported from Kasaragod district, while Malappuram had 39,000 cases.
However, it’s other malpractices such as unauthorised load, unauthorised extension and tariff misuse that hurt the board in a big way. About 3.7 crore units were lost this way and the assessed loss is about Rs 34 crore. In the case of these malpractices, the southern districts trumped the northern districts. In March, about 59 lakh units were assessed to have been lost to malpractices, of which the contribution of southern districts was 46 lakh units. Short assessment also contributed enormously to the loss, pegged at 86 lakh units, which translates to Rs 4.5 crore.
In 2023-24, the board was set back by Rs 48 crore due to the irregularities. An official told TNIE that the dip in the assessed loss for 2024-25 is not a proof that power theft is coming down. “The APTS had to perform a lot of other tasks apart from detecting theft. That’s why the number of cases of theft and other irregularities that were caught came down in 2024-25. The offenders are also changing their tactics and it’s getting tough to detect the offences,” the official added.
The theft cases were predominantly detected in domestic connections, followed by agriculture connections and then commercial connections. In many cases, the consumers unknowingly became part of the crime as the electricians clandestinely did it without their consent.
Lost power
Total units lost to irregularities- 4.7 cr
Amount assessed by the board from offenders- I40.6 cr
Total Compounding fee - I53 lakh
Amount realized so far- I24 cr
Stolen power units- 12.5 lakh
Asessed loss due to power theft- I2.27 cr
Asessed loss due to other malpractices- I33.8 cr
What next?
First-time offenders can compound the offences by paying the amount decided by KSEB.
Repeating it will invite non-bailable sections . Punishment is three years imprisonment with fine, as per the Electricity Act.