Don't pass on discom loss to consumers:Par panel to regulators

State electricity regulatory commissions should not pass on the burden of commercial losses of discoms to "honest consumers" while determining power tariff, a Parliamentary panel said today.
"Efforts should be made to make SERCs accountable in regard to containment of AT&C losses. While determining the tariff of electricity, the burden of commercial losses should not be passed on to the honest consumer," said Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy in its report.
It noted that "state regulators have become an instrument in the hands of discoms to penalise honest consumers by making them pay for the misdeeds of dishonest consumers and the inefficiency of discoms by taking into consideration the unacceptably high AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses as cost while determining tariff".

The panel said that 12 years have been completed since the adoption of the Electricity Act 2003 and the time has now come to go for a second phase of energy reforms.
It suggested that it is the duty of the regulators that "separation of transmission and commercial losses is clearly reflected in their orders while passing the orders".
The committee asked the government that segregation of transmission and commercial losses be made compulsory.

It also stressed that initially states be asked to support segregation (of losses) and bring down the commercial losses to less than 10 per cent in the capital, town and corporation cities.

It said, "The concept of AT&C losses henceforth be stopped. Both types of losses i.E. Transmission and commercial, should be shown separately and the losses incurred for bringing power to outskirt of cities/villages be accounted as transmission loss."
It further said the losses occurred from the distribution centres at the outskirts of cities/town/villages till the meter/bill collection be treated as commercial losses.
The panel suggested, "The government of India, with state discoms and regulators, must chalk out an action plan within 3 months. Adequate protection to anti power-theft squad, while conducting raids, should be provided by he state governments.