The tariff order issued by KERC has put all five Escoms on their toes. For, they will lose 10 per cent of the subsidy amount granted by the government towards free supply of power to irrigation pump sets if they fail to carry out meticulous energy audit in all their feeders in a bid to track power theft.
As per the order, 10 per cent of total subsidy of Rs. 7,113 crore will be paid to Escoms only in the last quarter of the financial year, after making sure that they track the power consumption by installing meters on transformers linked to feeders (network of a small group of localities) to measure the bulk supply and also comparing with the total consumption by individual installations.
Similarly, Escoms are supposed to measure the bulk supply for irrigation pump sets by installing meters at the feeder-level. KERC chairman M.R. Sreenivasa Murthy said this clause had been introduced as the Escoms were yet to show satisfactory compliance of instructions regarding reduction in energy losses. He felt the State had good infrastructure to reduce its energy losses from the present level of about 18 per cent to 10 per cent.
