Despite efforts under UDAY, power theft continues to remain high

Arunachal, Bihar, UP, Jharkhand remain laggards in checking power theft

Energy theft continues to remain high despite concerted efforts by the Centre and the states, which signed up for the power distribution reforms — Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY). 

The states that topped the list of power theft in 2016 have not made any considerable progress. 

Among the major laggards are Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. While power supply situation has improved slightly for some states, the health of the system would remain sick if power theft is not cracked down.

At an all-India level, average power stolen in terms of the percentage of supply remains similar to last year. Gujarat had earlier successfully cracked down on power thieves with the help of police force and the 'name and shame' campaign. Now, UP has started the same, however, the success for the state has not been much yet.

Rajasthan is joining hands with private firms on a franchise basis to streamline power supply. Ground results of the same is awaited.

Power theft as % of supply
	2016	2017*
ALL INDIA	22.10%	22.60%
Arunachal Pradesh	68%	NA
Bihar	39%	44.70%
Jharkhand	38%	34.10%
Uttar Pradesh	36%	36.80%
Rajasthan	32%	26.60%
*Last updated by the state for 2017

Avg power cut per month (in hours)
2016	2017
19.5	10.21
NA	NA
89.1	32.1
43.27	60.08
91.04	9.31
1.24	9.07

Source: URJA App of Power Finance Corporation (PFC)