Significant power thefts in Mumbai; In Maharashtra records 2,625 power thefts in 3 months

On Wednesday, MSEDCL's managing director Vijay Singhal announced the creation of ten additional special teams for the state's identification of power theft.
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Mumbai: On Wednesday, MSEDCL's managing director Vijay Singhal announced the creation of ten additional special teams for the state's identification of power theft. He told the journalists that MSEDCL units had discovered a significant amount of power thefts of Rs 131 crore in just three months, from April to June.
"Our existing 63 special squads detected 2,625 cases across Maharashtra, including a significant number in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. We came across 239 million units of power thefts and during the prosecution, we recovered penalties to the tune of Rs 54 crore," he said.
However, he recently convened a review conference with senior officials and gave them instructions to increase vigilance and apprehend individuals responsible for power theft.
"It will help us reduce our electricity distribution losses further and this in turn can improve the financial condition of the state power discom," he said.
According to statistics provided to the media on Wednesday, 9250 cases of power theft worth Rs 98 crore were discovered in 2019–20. In contrast, power theft was discovered in 7169 cases in 2020–21, costing Rs 87 crore, and in 13,370 cases in 2021–22, costing Rs 264 crore.
"We appeal to citizens to get meters installed and replace those which are defective," Singhal added.
Earlier this week, "BEST has opted to go 100% smart metering," said Lokesh Chandra, general manager of BEST. He added that with smart metering in place, customers will be able to view their power use in real-time using the app and will be able to control the appliances in their home or workplace remotely.
Smart metres can be used to perform energy accounting. "The location of electricity theft can be determined using the internet data from these utility metres. Vigilance raids can be done immediately, conserving energy "official noted.
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