Stressing that high commercial losses cannot be allowed to continue, a Parliamentary panel has asked the Power Ministry to prepare action plan in three months with specific target of bringing down these losses.
"To improve the functioning of the sector, such high/heavy (around 22%) commercial losses cannot be allowed any loner...Action plan in three months duration may be prepared based on the circumstances of the states with a specific target of bringing down commercial losses," the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy chaired by Virendra Kumar said in a report tabled in Parliament today.
The panel suggeted that the loss prone area to be identified, their data analysed and remedial measures taken in these zones and there should be no compromise on the achievement of the loss reduction targets during the period of these action plans.
It also said, "non-fulfillment of the objective be viewed adversely and officer concerned be made available. The loss reduction target should be 5 per cent at least of the occurring losses during the period of the action plan.
The report also said that the percentage of electricity losses, irrespective of the nature of losses whether technical or commercial should be capped at an acceptable level and time bound remedial measures should urgently be implemented.
The panel noted that no agency has taken note of commercial losses and reforms are made only to cover them up under the garb of comprehensives Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) losses and the involved agencies should be made answerable and accountable.
The committee also suggested that first and foremost segregation of technical and commercial losses should be done, even if it is in approximation.
It said that the committee is of the firm belief that this will not only help in having a clear picture of different components of the losses but will also be instrumental in containing the overall loss level by pinpointing the efforts to the specific areas.
It said a segregated values will never prevent anyone from aggregating them to use it for the required purposes.
Henceforth, commercial losses should be calculated separately and be brought to the public domain by all the discoms/agencies.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
