Power-saving regulations silent on unmetered supply!

Over 50 lakh consumers in Uttar Pradesh getting unmetered power: UPPCL data

Can you think of a law that seeks to promote power conservation without trying to find ways to stop rampant unmetered electricity supply?

Most of us would say ‘No’, but the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) seems to have done exactly that.

The Demand Side Management (DSM) Regulations, 2014 t hat t he UPERC released on Friday, seeking to conserve electricity through various ways including plugging in wastage, are sur prisingly silent on the unmetered supply.

As per t he i nfor mation available with the UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL), more than 50 lakh consumers in the state, including one lakh power employees and pensioners in UP, get unmetered power supply. In other words, they consume as much power as they wish to against fixed monthly charges.

“Talking of demand side management without addressing the problem of unmetered supply does not make sense in a state where half the consumers have the luxury of wasting power as they do not have a meter in gross violation of the Electricity Act, 2003,” said a senior official.

He said consumers, who did not have a meter on their premises to record power consumption, had a natural tendency to indulge in wastage of electricity. “And when the number of unmetered consumers is as big as around 52 lakh, the amount of possible wastage can easily be imagined,” added the official.

Sources said that of the near- ly 52 lakh unmetered connections (the number is increasing every year), around 50 lakh were in rural areas only.

“A large number of around one lakh power employees and pensioners with access to unmetered power supply pay nominal monthly charges and also allow their tenants to use electricity from the same connection further adding to the wastage,” sources said.

Interestingly, not only did the new regulations on the DSM have a word on unmetered supply but the workshop on the DSM held jointly by the UP Electricity Re gulatory Commission and the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai here on Friday also did not witness any expert mentioning the need for installing meters on the premises of all the consumers who do not have a meter.

“Installing meters on the premises of all the 52 lakh unmetered consumers will fetch bigger dividends as compared to any DSM initiative,” claimed another official.

But the UPPCL, as per its own commitment given to the UPERC sometime back, will take at least 10 years more in installing energy meters (leave alone correct meters) on all the consumers’ premises, that too depending on availability of funds and the meters!