Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 27
Increasing energy consumption sans corresponding increase in revenue collection, the Department of Power has for years been running on loss. This one factor has, more or less, been the ‘Achilles heel’ of the department. Power pilferage, aside from theft by unregistered consumers suspected to be the culprit behind the problem, the department on Monday carried out an inspection exercise in Dimapur. It was targeted at ‘high-value consumers’.
Commissioner and Secretary, Power, L.Kire led the inspection, assisted by officers from the Chief Engineer’s office, Kohima along with engineers and field staffers from Dimapur Electrical Division. The Commissioner & Secretary termed the exercise as an effort aimed at understanding the weaknesses of the department in the services and maintenance aspect.
Without going into the details of the findings made during the inspection, the department said that of the problems detected, about 80 percent of it was related to defects in equipment/meter while meter-tampering or pilferage made up 25-30 percent of the cases. It was not disclosed if at all, any act of pilferage or meter-tampering was detected.
Earlier in his briefing before the inspection began, Kire acknowledged that the root cause of the problem lied with the department. It was disclosed that during the financial year 2010-11, the department spent Rs. 160 crore on power purchases whereas the revenue collected was a dismal Rs. 83 crore. For the year 2011-12, the projected expenditure is Rs. 211 crore. While expressing disappointment with the billing system, he said, “consumers maybe paying less than what they’re actually consuming.” “We should be truthful in paying our bills.”
At present, the total power requirement for the entire state is said to be around 110 mega watts, which is tipped to increase by more than two-folds (to about 300 MW) by the end of the ongoing 5-year plan. This in the backdrop of the state getting less than 50 percent of the total requirement. The energy supply comes down to as low as 35 percent during daytime.
