MSEDCL make desperate
attempts to prevent power theft in city
By Dinesh Kamath
NAVI MUMBAI: The
authorities of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited
(MSEDCL) feel totally harassed by havoc that power thieves are causing
especially in places like Panvel and Uran. They are now trying to come up with
a powerful strategy that will help them catch hold of and take action against
both residential and commercial power thieves especially in Panvel and Uran.
MSEDCL has not been sitting quiet after receiving a
number of complaints about power thefts from the residents of the city. In fact
they went on to file many FIRs against power thieves under Taloja feeder. MSEDCL
also conducted drives against power thefts especially in sensitive areas which
was recording heavy loss of electricity owing to such thefts. MSEDCL took the
assistance of local police stations and also engineers as well as officials.
MSEDCL also conducted raids at various places and detected power thefts thus
restoring uninterrupted electricity supply to these areas. After conducting
this drive against power theft, MSEDCL, in a matter of very few days, managed
to unearth a huge number of power theft which speaks for the high efficiency of
MSEDCL staff. The power thieves who came in the net of MSEDCL were found to
have stolen a huge quantity of power to the tune of more than one lakh units
which caused a loss of lakhs of rupees. The power theft were detected not only
at Taloja feeder but also in areas under JNPT and Uran feeders.
MSEDCL has asked the police department to make use of
CrPc and Bombay Police Act to teach the power thieves a permanent lesson and in
the process prevent wastage of huge quantity of electricity and loss of huge
amount.
The police source informed, “Theft of electricity is the
criminal practice of stealing electrical power. It is a crime and is punishable
by fines and/or incarceration. India loses more money to theft than any other
country in the world. The state of Maharashtra—which includes Mumbai—alone
loses $2.8 billion per year, more than all but eight countries in the world.
Nationally, total transmission and distribution losses approach 23% and some
states' losses exceed 50%. We are focusing on power thefts that take place in
Navi Mumbai alone.
There are various types of electrical power theft,
including Tapping a line or bypassing the energy meter. According to a study,
80% of theft occurs in private dwellings and 20% on commercial and industrial
premises. The various types of electrical power theft include:
Direct hooking
from line
Hooking is the most used method. 80% of power theft is by
direct tapping from the line. The consumer taps into a power line from a point
ahead of the energy meter. This energy consumption is unmeasured and procured
with or without switches.
Bypassing the
energy meter
In this method, the input terminal and output terminal of
the energy meter is short-circuited, preventing the energy from registration in
the energy meter.
Injecting foreign element into the energy meter
Meters are manipulated via a remote by installing a
circuit inside the meter so that the meter can be slowed down at any time. This
kind of modification can evade external inspection attempts because the meter
is always correct unless the remote is turned on.
Physical
obstruction
This type of tampering is done to electromechanical
meters with a rotating element. Foreign material is placed inside the meter to
obstruct the free movement of the disc. A slower rotating disk signals less
energy consumption.”
When an official of MSEDCL was asked as to what strategy
would be employed to prevent the large-scale power theft in Navi Mumbai, he
said that a final strategy will soon come up and that MSEDCL was bent on taking
on the power thieves on a war footing to prevent the constant power thefts in
residential and commercial areas of Navi Mumbai.
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