Delhi power firm clamps down on power theft cases

NEW DELHI - Delhi’s leading power distribution company BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) has planned over 200 raids across the city in a bid to curb power theft cases. The drive will continue till March 31, an official said.

This is one of the biggest crack-downs by the company, which distributes electricity in south and west Delhi, in recent times. For increased effectiveness, raids are being carried out 24X7 targeting a total of 125 areas.

“It is seen that with the unusually cold weather, there is a sharp and sudden increase in energy theft. This, at places, leads to severe over-loading of transformers, resulting in tripping and is also a potential safety hazard,” said a BRPL official.

To ensure that the distribution equipment is not damaged and honest and genuine consumers are not inconvenienced, the company may not have a choice but to resort to outages in these areas, whenever such dangerous levels of over-loading occurs, added the official.

“BSES teams often come under attack from the unscrupulous elements, while undertaking such mass-raids. To protect them, most of the raiding teams are being accompanied by Delhi Police personnel, who are extending full cooperation,” the official further said.

According to officials, in the first seven days of the drive, over 5 megawatt (MW) power theft load has been unearthed and nearly 750 cases have been booked. Since July 2002, BRPL has booked over 1.01 lakh cases and unearthed a power theft load of over 6.27 lakh KW.

“Simultaneous to these raids, BRPL is also sprucing-up its service lines and undertaking associated work in these targeted areas. It is also facilitating new connections through BSES’ Door Step Service,” said a BSES official.