NEW DELHI: India plans to fine electricity distributors from
April 2019 for power cuts deemed avoidable and to make it mandatory for
the companies to install prepaid or smart meters to prevent electricity
theft, the power minister said on Thursday.
The
initiative is the latest by the government to ensure more reliable power
supplies in the nation of 1.3 billion people where a quarter of
households have no electricity supply.
The government
launched a $2.3bn project in September to provide the whole population
with power by the end of 2018. Power Minister Raj Kumar Singh said
distributors would be fined if they cut power to customers unless the
shutdown was caused by factors such as the weather or a disaster that
was beyond a company’s control.
The fines would be imposed in the financial year starting April 1, 2019, he said, without giving further details.
Distribution
firms sometimes cut power saying they do not have the cash to pay
generating firms.
The government says this could be solved by better bill collection and
by reducing power theft by those using unauthorised and unmetered grid
links.
“Some states are not able to bill the consumers
effectively,” Singh said, adding some Indian states were failing to
collect payments for about 50 per cent of power they supplied.
“Where the consumers are billed properly, the recovery is around 95pc,” the minister said.
Singh
wants to curb power theft as part of an effort to fix the finances of
debt-laden power distribution companies, known as discoms, in states
that have struggled to buy and supply enough electricity to consumers.
As part of its efforts to expand electricity supply, the government aims to distribute solar panels with
battery packs to households in areas that are too remote for transmission lines.
