The Uttarakhand Electricity Regularity Commission (UERC) has directed the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) to actively pursue activities aimed at reducing power losses. It also directed the UPCL to prepare necessary proposals to reduce power losses for financial year 2019-20 and 2020-21 within next 60 days.
The secretary UERC Niraj Sati said that UPCL had submitted a petition with the UERC for sanction of a sum of Rs 157.55 crore for replacing overhead LT conductors in Dehradun, Uttarkashi, Pauri, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Almora districts with LT Aerial Bunch Conductor (ABC) cable in July, 2018. In the petition, the UPCL had proposed to purchase 3250 km- long ABC cable as, according to it, the use of new cable would prevent power thefts and increase power security and improve supplies. The step was meant to reduce transmission losses and bring down the financial loss. On receipt of this proposal, the commission asked the UPCL to submit division-wise details of the proposal, but it failed to file a reply till November 2018.
The UPCL requested the commission to grant a time period of one month to submit the required documents in November 2018. Sati said that UPCL had again failed to submit documents even after end of one month after which commission held a hearing on the petition on Tuesday.
In the hearing, the UPCL officials gave details of the importance of the cable change proposal and sought a time period of 60 days to submit the information sought by the commission.
On a stern note, the commission stated that the financial year for which the investment proposal was submitted is at its fag end and giving another extension would finish its relevance.