Jan-2019 deadline for reducing power losses to 15 pc: Singh

Union Power Minister R K Singh said today that the government had set a deadline of January 2019 for bringing down power losses due to theft and unmetered supply to 15 per cent of the total generation in the country.
Replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said the deadline was fixed at a meeting of power ministers of all states as some states had more losses than others.
He cited the example of Uttar Pradesh which has suffered a lost of 21 per cent.
He said the main reason for power losses were theft and unmetered supply of power.

"We have kept a target for bringing down power losses in the country. At a meeting of state power ministers held recently, we have set a target of January 2019 by when such losses would be brought down to less than 15 per cent.
"After that we will bring a regulation under which power losses of over 15 per cent will not be accepted in the power tariff. All state power ministers agree to this and we have set this deadline," he told the House.

He said in an ideal world, the power losses should be down to 5-6 per cent. "But this is not an ideal world and power theft does take place and unmetered supply of power is there."

In response to another question, Singh said against the target of 100 gigawatt of solar energy to be achieved by 2022, the country generates about 16.62 gigawatt.
He said that a few weeks ago the government formally issued bids. "In the next three months, we are going to have bids for about 7,000 gigawatt more. Next year, we are going to have bids for 30,000 gigawatt and the year after that we are going to have bids for 30,000 gigawatt more," he said.
The minister said that apart from bids for floating solar power plants for which the government has assessed the potential, "we have sent teams to assess the potential in huge water bodies in Bhakra Dam, etc.