Take action against those responsible for grid failure:Panel

A Parliamentary panel has sought action against entities and individuals responsible for failure of electricity grid during July 2012 to prevent such incidents in future.
"The Committee strongly feel that to prevent the occurrence of such incidents (grid failure) in future, it is necessary to fix the responsibility of the violators and take action accordingly, it is essential to discourage any further non-compliance on the part of various stakeholders," a Parliamentary Committee on public undertakings said.
The panel in its report on planning and implementation of transmission projects by Power Grid Corp and grid management by Power System Operation Corp has asked the two PSUs to apprise it about the specific action taken on this particular point.

It said that the committee is constrained to note that even though three years have passed, investigations to fix accountability of the responsible units/authority/individual remain inconclusive.
"Even during the evidence of the Ministry of Power, the Committee was not given a satisfactory reply with respect to the issue of fixing accountability of entities or authorities or individuals for not following the relevant regulation or Electricity Act provisions leading to the said Grid failure, despite availability of the High Level Enquiry Committee report on the incident," it said.
The committee observed that technical losses are not a cause of concern but the (power) distribution losses are constantly on a very high side.

The panel was informed that such losses, suffered mainly by the Discoms, are due to non-metering, defective metres, non-billing, non-realisation, electricity theft etc.

The committee urged the Ministry of Power to press upon the Discoms to utilise various technical and managerial solutions to tackle issues like non-metering, non-billing etc. efficiently in consultation with states to contain losses.
The panel is of considered view that even though Loop In
Loop Out (LILO) has benefitted Power Grid and has not caused any revenue loss on account of postponing of obligations under the Long Term Access Agreements, yet Power Grid should not overlook the violation of Long Term Agreement by private developers.

The panel came to know from the audit report that some developers such as Sterlite and GMR have been postponing their obligations under Long-term Access Agreements with Power Grid in Odisha.
These obligations involve the completion of a dedicated line from (power) generation plant to nearest (electricity) pooling stations so as to ensure transfer of power under LTA Agreements.
However, despite postponing their commitments under LTAs, these developers remained connected to the Grid under Short-term Access Agreements (STOA) through LILO arrangement which work on margins available in the Grid, the panel said.
It observed, "as per Audit, such a LILO agreement has caused revenue losses to Power Grid on account of differences between LTA charges and STOA charges, as well as congestion in some places such as Chhattisgarh due to inadequacy of transmission system.