Improved vigilance helps BEST plug power pilferage…..MANASI PHADKE
Increasing revenues not focus, undertaking hopes crackdown will act as deterrent in cases of theft, pilferage
Increasing revenues not focus, undertaking hopes crackdown will act as deterrent in cases of theft, pilferage
The number of power thefts detected in city areas serviced by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) undertaking has surged more than three-fold over the past four years due to stepped up vigilance. This has in turn led to the overall distribution losses of the undertaking dropping from nearly 13 per cent then to about 8 per cent now.
“The actual cases of power thefts may or may not have gone up, but the fact that our distribution losses have reduced shows that our vigilance against such cases has become stricter,” said Atul Patil, deputy general manager, electric supply.
Although the total number of cases detected have soared from 658 in 2006-07 to 2,140 in 2010-11, the amount recovered from such cases has not increased in the same scale. The BEST recovered Rs 9.67 crore from the cases detected in 2006-07, while in 2010-11, the undertaking recovered Rs 12.91 crore.
“Our ultimate focus is not to get revenue out of this. We focus more on the deterrent effect of our vigilance,” Patil said. “But by and large, we recover approximately 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the amount pilfered.”
Patil said most of BEST’s distribution losses are technical rather than commercial. Technical losses refer to losses incurred in the process of distributing power, while commercial losses refer to losses due to pilferage. “We have reduced out commercial losses to a great extent,” he added.
Based on complaints and information, BEST sends its assessment officers to the site to inspect the theft or pilferage. The assessment officers draft a preliminary report and send it to a review committee. The review committee consists of financial, legal and technical experts who inspect the report. A final report is then drafted and dispatched to the consumer concerned.
The BEST invites the contention of the consumer, granting the consumer a period of seven days. Thereafter, it holds a hearing and a decision is taken on the outcome of the case, including the amount to be recovered, if any.