Power losses won't fall on consumers: KERC

BANGALORE: In a consumer-friendly decision, the KERC has said that power distribution losses beyond 15 per cent will not be passed on to residents of urban areas through tariff hike.
Raising the issue on Wednesday during the validation hearing on tariff petitions, KERC Chairman Phillipose Matthai indicated to Bescom that the order has to be strictly followed.
Taking a leaf from the Andhra Pradesh example, where losses in urban areas have been restricted to below 10 per cent, the KERC said: "Losses beyond 15 per cent will not be allowed for urban areas with population above 50,000."
"The KERC''s decision is going to hit us in other towns," Bescom MD P.B. Ramamurthy admitted.
Pumpsets missing: Close on the heels of the "missing" 9 lakh power consumers in ledgers of the KPTC and four distribution companies, KERC said about 22,000 urban irrigation pumpsets were missing from Bescom records. "Unless some magic is happening, how can these go away from ledgers," Matthai asked.
Bescom said most of the "missing" IPsets had been reclassified, but, Matthai said: "Please conduct an IPset census. Andhra Pradesh has done this with flair."