Despite initiating several reforms in the power sector the Union Territory administration in Jammu & Kashmir is struggling to scale up the revenue collection and bring down the revenue losses.
On Monday Lt Governor Manoj Sinha while launching the Smart meters project revealed that the UT is still incurring an annual loss of Rs 3,400 crore in transmission and distribution of power.
Urging consumers to install smart meters to ensure uninterrupted supply of power, Sinha said at present we are purchasing electricity for Rs 6,000 crore but only getting a revenue of Rs 2,600 crore. We are suffering a loss of Rs 3400 crore annually".
From today, 6603 smart meter households connected to 4 feeders of Jammu will receive quality electricity, announced the Lt Governor.
"I appeal to the people to install smart meters and help the administration in controlling theft and reducing wasteful consumption, '' the Lt Governor added.He said for the last seven decades, no credible efforts were made to increase the power capacity or strengthen the transmission and distribution system.
“The present government, for the last one and a half year, is making sustained efforts to ensure reliable power supply to consumers, besides reducing transmission losses and improving distribution efficiency,” he said.
In a major to ensure uninterrupted power supply, he said the areas being installed with smart meters will be made curtailment free along with the supply of quality power to the end-users.
He said the move will enable consumers to monitor their power consumption behaviour and regulate it accordingly.
“The pre-paid feature, to be enabled in coming days, will provide desired flexibility in the consumption of electricity to consumers,” he said.
Sinha said similar arrangements are being emulated in Kashmir as well.
“I know most of the people want smart meters and are also paying their electricity bills on time,” he said, adding “it is the right of the people to have quality and interrupted power supply and we are making efforts in this direction to fulfil our responsibility.”