Life In India Without The Trappings Of Power

Getting Around Power ~ by Manju Dubey

Imagine the same power outage in India, but with the boiling Indian summer heat. Its 9:00am and you are ready to go to the office and theres a power cut (outage) immediately heads roll .. if the generator does not start whirring in a minute and the UPS or inverter does not start functioning immediately, then the generator attendant will lose his job. If you call up the local company bijliwallah (power company) the standard reply is "dont know when the supply will resume". If people hammer out the same question again and again the power company will put the receiver off the hook. End of Power struggle.

To read the entire article.... Life in India without the trappings of power

Although by the 1990s India had increased its installed electricity generation capacity over the previous 40 years fifty times, from 1,500 MW to 80,000 MW, serious problems beset the power sector. In particular, the quality and reliability of supply was poor, India suffered widespread power outages, there were significant fluctuations in supply voltage and frequency and grid disturbances. Shortages in power were made worse by high transmission and distribution losses. The problems were caused by many factors. Underinvestment in transmission and distribution networks, poor capacity utilisation, inadequate billing, poor metering, irrational tariff structures, stolen power supply, the poor financial health of the state electricity boards and slow generation project implementation were the primary difficulties. By the 1990s only 55% of total electricity generated was billed and a mere 40% was actually paid for. The retail price of electricity represented less than 75% of the real average generation cost.

Cautious Optimism? - the Indian power sector I dont pretend to understand what the real infastructure is around the world, I do know that before you outsource somewhere understand what the risk factors are.

Overview

PLC (Power Line Communication) is attracting increasing interest as a communication technology for use in applications where low power remote monitoring or control is required. Emerging applications include street lighting, smart metering and intelligent home applications. The M16C/6S MCU from Renesas combines on a single chip a PLC modem circuit (YITRAN IT800) that delivers excellent performance in noisy environments, a 16-bit CPU (M16C core), and peripheral I/O functions. The IT800 PLC modem circuit built into the M16C/6S is used as the base technology for the HomePlug Command and Control standard. The available development tools include a PLC evaluation board and a software library incorporating a data link layer and network layer. These provide support for PLC development.

New

Powerline Carrier Communication Modem

Power Line Carrier Communication Modem is an OEM module which carries data on a conductor used for electric power transmission i.e the AC lines. PLCC offers a no new wires solution because the infrastructure is already established. This module can be integrated into and become part of the user's system. A pair of these Modems connected on the same phase and neutral line of the power network can provide bidirectional data communication at a baud rate up to 2400 bps. The PLCC modem is built around the M16C/6S MCU from Renesas Technology. It is a simple modem around which a host of applications can be built. The unit can be easily integrated into other systems to successfully transmit data over the power lines.

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India struggles with power theft

By Mark Gregory BBC World Service international business reporter in Rohini, Delhi

How can you live on a few dollars a day? Well, it helps a little if your electricity is free. For slum dwellers in Rohini, a residential district in North West Delhi, power theft is almost a way of life. There's little or no effort to hide it, and the method is simplicity itself: just find the nearest overhead power cable, sling a metal hook over it, then run a wire from the hook to the home. The result: an illegal supply of free electricity that lasts until inspectors from the local power utility stage one of their periodic raids.
Power theft means almost half India's electricity goes unpaid for

And when that happens, people simply all wait for a few hours until the inspectors have gone before reconnecting. Christmas trees The evidence for this is there for all to see. Across a main road from the slum is a line of pylons carrying mains electricity cables. As well as the thick wires they are supposed to be supporting, most of the pylons have dense tangles of other much smaller wires sprouting off in different directions. The proliferation of connections makes the pylons look a little like over-decorated Christmas trees. These little wires run across the road siphoning off power from the transmission lines to homes and businesses located in the slum, which is a maze of little alleyways with children and animals running around. Most households here seem to have an illegal connection to the grid. In many instances there are several unauthorised connections - and on occasion a legal one as well. National problem Similar scenes can be seen in many parts of Delhi. According to the latest official estimate, as much as 42% of the power supplied to India's capital disappears through "transmission losses", meaning it is consumed without being paid for. In effect, it is stolen. Three years ago the problem was even more serious. Then transmission losses accounted for over the half the electricity distributed in Delhi. Although Delhi has been dubbed the power theft capital of the world, the situation in other parts of India is little better. There are no hard figures, but the best estimate is that somewhere between a third and half of the country's electricity supply is unpaid for.

No other country suffers revenue losses on this scale. In China, Asia's other emerging economic giant, no more than 3% of the nation's power supply is lost to theft. Spreading the blame Slum dwellers' unofficial hook- Sangeta Robinson says the middle class ups are the most visible sign is as much to blame of India's power theft crisis, but there are yet bigger problems dogging the country's energy sector. Meter tampering by middle class households seeking to pay less than they should costs still more, says Sangeta Robinson, an official with local utility North Delhi Power Limited, a subsidiary of energy giant Tata Power. And yet another huge loss - albeit one which no-one can quantify - is electricity theft by industrial enterprises. Giresh Sant, who works for an NGO called Prayas campaigning for more efficient and accountable government, says the problem is one of corruption - and a vested electoral interest in turning a blind eye. No-one likes paying their utility bills, he says, so often politicians regard laxness about revenue collection as a votewinner. And opportunities for personal enrichment through corruption related to industrial power theft have given them, as well as civil servants and utility officials, further incentives not to rock the boat. The political aspect is probably most blatant in rural areas. At least 20% of India's power is consumed by farmers' irrigation systems. Frequently they either get free power or pay low set charges that bear no relation to the amount of electricity used. The powerful farmers' lobby is hard for politicians to ignore in country where a majority of the population still makes its living from agriculture. Power drought But the pervasive electricity theft means India is chronically short of power.

Power cuts due to load shedding - which happens when demand exceeds supply - are a regular event in Indian cities. And the problem is likely to get worse as rapid economic growth leads to greater energy consumption. If the current 8% growth rate continues, India's energy planners reckon generating capacity will need to expand sevenfold over the next 25 years - and that means as much as $300bn on new power stations and transmission lines. Meanwhile, power theft means most of India's state run electricity companies are close to bankruptcy, collectively losing $4.5bn a year. Private discipline? Still, Giresh Sant can see change on the way.

Giresh Sant says change is coming - but only slowly

A key problem to date, he says, has been an almost complete lack of effective auditing and accounting which could identify where the theft problems were worst. But at last the power sector is starting to build the monitoring systems needed to make sensible decisions. Recent legal reforms could also help. The 2003 Electricity Act made power theft a criminal offence for the first time, and made provision for special courts and police departments dedicated to cracking down. Finally, there is the push to privatise. The idea is that private energy utilities will be better managed, more motivated to raise revenue - and less susceptible to political pressure than government-run enterprises. Private-sector power generation plants have targets for reducing transmission losses built into their contracts. The privatisation process is rather less advanced in power distribution. So far, only Delhi and the eastern state of Orissa have private firms playing a significant role. Crackdown But in Delhi, the private power firms say they are making progress.

India's two largest private power companies - Tata Power and Reliance Energy - have been awarded management control of supplying electricity to Delhi, working in partnership with state-run organisations. Tata Power claims to have cut transmission losses in its patch from over 50% of the power supplied to little more than 30%. The company recently secured its first criminal conviction for power theft, and has also launched several thousand civil legal cases against people it suspects of abusing the system in Delhi. Tata is also undertaking an education campaign to convince consumers of the merits of paying for power. And it is also offering an incentive: a scheme that gives slumdwellers power enough for lights and a fan for a fixed price of 179 rupees ($4; 2.30) a month. Some say, however, that even this is too expensive in relation to income, so India's campaign against power theft clearly still has some way to go.

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OERC cautions private Discoms to suspend their licenses

The Times of India has reported that the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) cautioned the three private power distribution companies, Wesco, Nesco and Southco, to suspend their licenses if they did not improve their functioning at the earliest. The OERC set a deadline of September 30 for the purpose.

It said by this time the transmission and distribution loss has to be reduced and that there will have to be tangible' improvement in consumer service. It also said that the problems surrounding the share-holders agreement and payment of NTPC bond dues will have to be sorted out by that time. The OERC has also ordered that the private distribution companies would have to arrange counterpart funding for infrastructure improvement for which the state government is also providing funds. It stated that, instead of suspending the licenses of three distribution companies it would like to see an environment of effort on all sides to improve performances on various aspects.

The Regulator feels that it would be able to run the power companies by putting a special dispensation in place after suspending the licensees. The assumption seems to be founded on a misplaced faith in its own capacity to run Discoms.

EA2003 are provisioned Whoever, dishonestly,-

The

Act

describes

electricity

theft

as

a) taps, makes or causes to be made any connection with overhead, underground or under water lines or cables, or service wires, or service facilities of a licensee; or

b) tampers a meter, installs or uses a tampered meter, current reversing transformer, loop connection or any other device or method which interferes with accurate or proper registration, calibration or metering of electric current or otherwise results in a manner whereby electricity is stolen or wasted; or

c) damages or destroys an electric meter, apparatus, equipment, or wire or causes or allows any of them to be so damaged or destroyed as to interfere with the proper or accurate metering of electricity, so as to abstract or consume or use electricity shall be punishable .

It is not difficult for utilities to detect instances of power theft. In fact Discoms are already doing so. The efforts however are not yielding the desired results in Orissa as well as in other states. There are many reasons for the same and most of them are well known. Yet, why are we not able to control theft. The answer boils down to the fact that as a society and as a polity we are unwilling to tackle the same effectively.

Every city has areas where theft is prevalent and these areas are well known. In almost all the case there are political godfathers who have a vested interest in not allowing theft to be curbed, primarily to keep the population in good humour. Starting from the Municipal councilor, the Local MLA, MP, Minister and going upto the government, these areas have a large number of patrons. Under the circumstances it is impossible for power companies to control theft. Hence the Discom officials prefer to leave the high loss areas alone for the fear of getting blackmailed on other counts by the local leadership.

In all such cases it is seen that the people living in such theft prone areas are prone to violence and attack the staff carrying out inspections (Duly encouraged by the political patrons). It becomes essential to seek police protection for the simple task of inspecting houses, leave alone booking cases or arresting the thieves. The police have a much larger agenda on their plate and do not like to have the L&O situation disturbed by a minor issue like power theft. It most cases they are seen advising the Discom staff to not stir up any trouble. In the absence of police support it becomes impossible to arrest power theft in these areas. Some states have experimented with establishing special police stations to handle power theft. Andhra Pradesh has one PS for each District and the result is that the jurisdiction of each PS is very large. They force is very thinly spread and in most cases are not able to do justice to the task, even in cases where they overcome political opposition.

The case load of all courts in the current system is very heavy and disposal takes a very long time. The rigour of proof is very high and is often seen that the judges are biased against the Discom on count of being negative effected themselves at some point of time. It has been seen that a decent conviction rate helps arrest theft. However, such support is not forthcoming at the field level.

The problem is compounded further if the Discoms are private.

Given the circumstances, it is unfair on the part of the OERC to threaten the Discoms with cancellation of licenses for not reducing theft. I feel that it is essential that OERC understand the issue more fully before passing orders which are not balanced.