LINE LOSSES DUE TO ELECTRIC PILFERAGE: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning would be leveraged to analyse data generated through smart meters to detect the theft cases - Union Power & NRE Minister Shri R. K. Singh
Indian Government News
March 15 -- Line losses in electrical networks are predominantly due to ohmic (heat) loss. Illegal electricity connections and theft of power leads to commercial loss which affects the financial health of the distribution companies with consequential effects like poor quality of power. The Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) loss is one of the key indicators of DISCOMs performance, which includes impact of power theft also. As per the 'Report on Performance of Power Utilities' for the years 2018-19 to 2020-21 published by Power Finance Corporation Ltd. (PFC), Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) Losses of distribution utilities during FY 2016-17 to FY 2020-21 are given below- National Level FiguresFY 2016-17FY 2017-18FY 2018-19FY 2019-20FY 2020-21FY 2021-22AT&C Losses (%)23.7221.5321.6420.7322.3217* *Provisional figures. The State-wise and Utility-wise details of AT&C Losses are given at Annexure. The pilferage of electricity is one of the several reasons for AT&C losses of the power distribution utilities. It is the prime responsibility of respective Distribution Utilities to take adequate measures to stop power theft. However, Govt. of India supplements the efforts of States/ distribution utilities by providing funding for the purpose under various schemes launched from time to time. Under RDSS Prepaid Smart meters including System metering are important interventions in reducing distribution losses in the Utilities and in facilitating automatic measurement of energy flows and energy accounting as well as auditing without any human intervention. Along with installation of prepaid Smart metering and the associated Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), System metering at Feeder and Distribution Transformer level with communicating feature would also be taken up to facilitate proper energy accounting every month for identification of defaulting consumers, theft prone pockets and high loss areas. Under the scheme, advanced ICT like Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI/ML) would be leveraged to analyse data generated through smart 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. Under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Government of India have taken a policy decision to privatize the distribution functions in the Power Departments / Utilities in the Union Territories. This is an important policy decision of the Government, taken with the objectives of providing better services to consumers and improvement in operational and financial efficiency of Distribution sector which currently is beset with inefficiencies. This will also provide a model for emulation by other Utilities across the country. Further, 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 (Part XV of the Electricity Act, 2003). As per Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, the distribution licensee shall arrange to display on its website feeder-wise outage data, efforts made for minimizing outages, prevention of theft or unauthorized use of electricity or tampering, distress or damage to electrical plant, electric lines or meter and results obtained during the year. Also, Tariff Policy 2016 envisages that in order to reduce theft of power, the distribution companies should have enabling feature like distribution SCADA with distribution management system and energy audit functions. This information was given by the Minister of Power Sh. R.K. Singh in the Rajya Sabha Today. ******* AM/DK ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (b) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1595 ANSWERED IN THE RAJYA SABHA ON 14.03.2023 ************** State-wise and utility-wise details of AT&C Losses 2016-172017-182018-192019-202020-21Andaman & Nicobar Islands 30.2823.4323.3451.94Andaman & Nicobar PD 30.2823.4323.3451.94Andhra Pradesh13.7714.1525.6710.7727.25APCPDCL 20.07APEPDCL7.4810.8818.306.6420.85APSPDCL17.0216.0429.7613.1737.48Arunachal Pradesh53.6451.0852.5340.4944.87Arunachal PD53.6451.0852.5340.4944.87Assam20.1117.6420.1923.3918.73APDCL20.1117.6420.1923.3918.73Bihar43.3433.5133.3039.9535.33NBPDCL37.8530.4626.9728.9432.47SBPDCL46.8135.5337.8148.2937.57Chandigarh 9.5613.5015.8611.89Chandigarh PD 9.5613.5015.8611.89Chattisgarh23.8720.7424.9618.4620.40CSPDCL23.8720.7424.9618.4620.40Dadra & Nagar Haveli 6.555.453.565.17DNHPDCL 6.555.453.565.17Daman & Diu 17.116.194.074.48Daman & Diu PD 17.116.194.074.48Goa24.3310.4817.6111.4112.94Goa PD24.3310.4817.6111.4112.94Gujarat14.4212.9614.0511.7911.91DGVCL10.206.605.906.227.40MGVCL11.2411.7310.3811.309.96PGVCL21.7119.6421.2118.8018.30UGVCL9.179.3212.016.887.41Haryana26.4221.7818.0818.2617.05DHBVNL23.1019.1615.3416.3716.93UHBVNL30.6825.3822.0420.8317.21Himachal Pradesh11.4811.0812.4613.3314.02HPSEBL11.4811.0812.4613.3314.02Jammu & Kashmir59.9653.6749.9460.4659.28JKPDD59.9653.6749.9460.4659.28Jharkhand40.8344.7228.3337.1341.36JBVNL40.8344.7228.3337.1341.36Karnataka16.8415.6119.8217.5815.36BESCOM14.9113.1715.7917.9113.86CHESCOM19.3113.2019.9121.6520.27GESCOM17.8616.3927.3817.8720.53HESCOM18.3522.8424.8815.3114.15MESCOM19.4714.2318.1215.3312.08Kerala13.4212.819.1013.127.76KSEBL13.4212.819.1013.127.76Lakshadweep 19.1526.8213.6911.63Lakshadweep ED 19.1526.8213.6911.63Madhya Pradesh26.8030.5136.6330.3841.47MPMaKVVCL34.2939.0045.0237.1749.04MPPaKVVCL19.0818.6925.2820.9430.28MPPoKVVCL28.0034.8440.3833.8945.39Maharashtra22.8414.0715.8019.2426.55BEST 6.364.324.625.93MSEDCL22.8414.3816.2319.8027.20 Manipur33.0127.4625.2623.3020.33MSPDCL33.0127.4625.2623.3020.33Meghalaya38.8141.1935.2231.6730.88MePDCL38.8141.1935.2231.6730.88Mizoram24.9816.1616.2020.6636.53Mizoram PD24.9816.1616.2020.6636.53Nagaland38.5041.3665.7364.7960.39Nagaland PD38.5041.3665.7364.7960.39Odisha37.1933.5931.5528.9429.32CESU36.7335.4932.4929.03 TPCODL 26.78NESCO Utility28.1324.4124.6124.4525.59SOUTHCO Utility43.4940.6641.3336.0535.37TPSODL 40.30WESCO Utility41.7034.9030.8828.8130.27TPWODL 33.34Puducherry21.3419.1919.7718.4519.92Puducherry PD21.3419.1919.7718.4519.92Punjab14.4617.3111.2814.3518.03PSPCL14.4617.3111.2814.3518.03Rajasthan27.3324.0728.2529.8626.23AVVNL25.1923.1423.3722.0821.65JdVVNL26.1723.4935.2038.2631.00JVVNL29.7925.1925.7327.8325.08Sikkim35.6232.4841.8328.7729.37Sikkim PD35.6232.4841.8328.7729.37Tamil Nadu18.2319.4717.8615.0013.81TANGEDCO18.2319.4717.8615.0013.81Telangana15.1919.4018.4121.9213.33TSNPDCL16.1924.7428.6335.269.03TSSPDCL14.7717.1613.7915.5715.48Tripura28.9530.0438.0335.7137.36TSECL28.9530.0438.0335.7137.36Uttar Pradesh40.9137.8033.1930.0527.45DVVNL40.6238.8937.1239.7531.89KESCO25.1022.5216.4915.4912.45MVVNL47.2745.2940.6234.1432.54PaVVNL29.7325.9722.2718.6417.85PuVVNL53.1947.8939.6434.2432.44Uttarakhand16.6816.3417.4520.3515.39UPCL16.6816.3417.4520.3515.39West Bengal27.8326.6923.0020.4021.35WBSEDCL27.8326.6923.0020.4021.35State Sector24.1122.1822.4421.5023.01Delhi10.799.879.128.268.87BRPL11.1310.539.048.339.70BYPL12.9910.8310.768.549.41TPDDL8.628.207.997.967.39Gujarat 6.535.204.596.46Torrent Power Ahmadabad 7.445.815.076.76Torrent Power Surat 4.433.713.435.66Maharashtra 8.119.068.85AEML 8.119.068.85Uttar Pradesh 9.089.369.739.77NPCL 9.089.369.739.77West Bengal 10.749.239.2513.17CESC 11.259.739.5214.04IPCL 3.202.685.873.52Private Sector10.799.338.297.959.27Grand Total23.7221.5321.6420.7322.32