BHUBANESWAR: Even as the power distribution companies have been able to reduce the aggregated technical and commercial loss by 15 per cent in the last ten years, the loss level is still at an unsustainable level and much higher than the benchmark fixed by the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC).
Responding to a question from BJP MLA Mohan Charan Majhi, Energy Minister Pratap Keshari Dev said as per the report furnished by Gridco, the AT&C loss of the state was 41.52 per cent in 2010-11 as against the OERC approval of 23.77 per cent. The erstwhile Southco has the highest loss level of 52.16 per cent followed by 42.19 per cent of Wesco and 41 per cent by Cesu.
The AT&C loss was brought down to 29.45 per cent in 2019-20. After Tata Power took over the four distribution companies, the loss level has been reduced to 26.28 per cent in 201-22 which is still higher than OERC approved loss of 22 per cent. In 2021-22, the actual AT&C loss of TPCODL was 25.1 per cent, TPWODL-26.8 per cent, TPSODL-32.19 per cent and TPNODL-23.13 per cent.
However, the 2020-21 Power Finance Corporation (PFC) report on the performance of power utilities of states said that the AT&C loss of Odisha was 29.32 per cent in the same financial year. Gridco purchased 24,536 million units of power and the net energy sold by the state trading utility was 18,629 MU. With 75.92 per cent billing efficiency and 93 per cent collection efficiency, the AT&C loss was estimated at 29.32 per cent. The AT&C loss of the state in 2019-20 was 28 per cent and 31.55 per cent in 2018-19, the minister said.