PrashantNews
The Uttarakhand Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) has made unprecedented progress in the power distribution sector in the last few years due to continuous efforts of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and brought down AT&C losses to 14.64 percent in 2023-24.
In the last few years, the demand for electricity supply in the state of Uttarakhand has increased by more than 10 percent, in such a situation, along with the establishment of a strong power distribution system, important steps have been taken by UPCL to improve the operational and professional efficiency.
In view of the ever-increasing electricity demand, the distribution area has been further strengthened by UPCL in the last few years, in which new sub-stations have been constructed and new lines have been established across the state. In the year 2023-24, about 4350 transformers have been installed to maintain power balance on all the feeders across the state. To improve energy accounting, smart meters are being installed on 59212 distribution transformers and 2602 feeders, which will increase the digitization, automation and efficiency of the power system and will also reduce power losses.
Since various schemes of the Government of India such as AMISP and Loss Reduction of RDSS Scheme are currently operational and the main objective of these schemes is to ensure high quality power supply to consumers by reducing power losses, for which standards have also been set by the Government of India under the scheme. It is mandatory for all distribution companies to qualify and meet these standards like ACS-ARR Gap, AT&C losses etc.
In this context, UPCL, under the leadership of its Managing Director Anil Yadav, has improved its billing and collection efficiency which brought down the AT&C losses by a record 5.8 percent in the last 5 years, which is commendable. It is worth noting that UPCL’s AT&C losses in the year 2019-20 were 20.44 percent, which has been continuously reduced to 14.64 percent in the financial year 2023-24. The Managing Director has informed that reducing AT&C losses is important for improving the financial condition of the Discom and reduction in losses leads to increase in revenue, technical advancement, balance in demand and supply as well as savings due to reduction in losses. Through these steps, electricity can be made available to consumers at cheaper rates. In future also, installation of smart metering system by UPCL, use of technologies like SCADA and RT-DAS system etc. will also play an important role in reducing power losses.