KSEB for stringent law to curb power theft

Kochi, July 9 (UNI) In a bid to crack down on power theft estimated to cause a loss of Rs 200 crore a year to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), the board's vigilance wing has proposed a stringent law making power theft a non-bailable offence.

Talking to UNI here, KSEB Vigilance Chief Rishiraj Singh said the basic framework for the Anti-Power Theft Bill was ready and being vetted by lawyers.

Stating the government was very serious about checking the menace, Mr Singh said the proposed bill also contemplated doubling the fine amount and summary dismissal of Electricity Department employees found colluding in such malpractices.

The KSEB's transmission and distribution losses were pegged at 20 per cent, causing a loss of nearly Rs 2,000 crore to the exchequer every year.

Of this, nearly ten per cent was on account of power theft causing a monetary loss of at least Rs 200 crore every year, he added.

Identifying factories, commercial establishments and well-off households with several air conditioners as the main culprits, Mr Singh said the board had come across very few instances of poor or lower middle class houses stealing power.

Notably, it had emerged there were ''professional groups'' offering to tamper meters for a fee ranging from Rs 1,000 to a few lakh, he said.

''In the nearly 50,000 raids conducted last year, we came across more than 100 methods to tamper the meters, including electronic ones,'' Mr Singh said.

Apart from tampering of meters, the vigilance squads also came across a large number of cases where people had secured agricultural connections but were using them for domestic and commercial purposes.

As against the average tariff of Rs 3 per unit for household use and Rs 7 for commercial use, the tariff for agricultural connections was only 40 paise a unit, he said.

Mr Singh said the personnel of the anti-theft squads were being sent for special training outside to learn the latest detection methods. The teams were also being equipped with laptops for on-the-spot calculation.

There was also a proposal to increase the number of anti-theft squads from eight to 14 so that each district would have its own squad.

Incentives such as five per cent of the recovered amount in cases of 100 per cent recovery were also being offered to the squad members.

''The government, which has been losing crores of rupees, is in no mood to tolerate this any longer. We hope these stringent measures will be introduced soon,'' Mr Singh added.

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