Shocking theft

Electricity theft, meter-tampering and non-payment of bills by customers have been the bane of power utilities in the domain of ‘non-technical losses’. The recent late-night clampdown on the Panipat Thermal Power Station residential complex in which seven senior officials were among those caught pilfering power from streetlights underscores the shameful practice and busts the perception that theft by kundi connections is generally resorted to by consumers of congested colonies that present a shocking picture of overhead tangles of wires, leading from electricity poles to homes. Periodic raids point to the fact that such stealth is widely prevalent. Nearly one-third of the 450 chambers of the Sonepat District Courts Complex inspected by the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam in November were found to have illegal connections.

The state is saddled with the task of dealing with 16 lakh consumers who were last year found to have defaulted on their power bill payments. The disclosure that even various government departments owe a whopping Rs 360 crore to the electricity department highlights the deep-rooted malaise. Payment plans and cash incentives to informers of theft, raids by officials and fines on violators seem to have yielded little over the years. Haryana Power and Jails Minister Ranjit Singh’s bijli panchayat held in Hisar a couple of days ago in a bid to mop up arrears is more likely to end up as an exercise in vain. Even as the onus lies on the consumers to act responsibly, stringent punishment — snapping electricity supply and levying heavy penalties — should jolt them out of the sense of the general impunity that they seem to enjoy.

The need to shore up the moribund financial state of the power sector is urgent. A report published in 2018 revealed that the Indian power sector loses around $16.2 billion to theft every year. The Haryana discoms are grappling to recover Rs 5,000 crore. Dishonest consumers and cheats are directly impacting the utilities’ profits, service standards and performance. The bigger fish must be caught, named and shamed. And, officials concerned held accountable.