Govt to focus on reducing power losses, improving electricity supply: CM

Srinagar, Jan 02: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday that his government will work to reduce power distribution losses and speed up the metering process to ensure better electricity supply for the people.
“Metering is an ongoing process under a Government of India scheme. We are committed to it and will make sure it happens. The more metering we do, the less electricity theft there will be,” he said during his first media interaction at SKICC.
CM Omar said that consumption of electricity in the state is more than the supply and J-K’s Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT & C) losses are already high, nearly 50 per cent. The power supply can be increased after under construction power projects in the territory get completed, he added.
The Chief Minister said that both the J&K government and the Union Power Ministry are working together to make these reforms a success. He said that J&K spends Rs 9,500 crore each year to buy electricity from the Centre and we are suffering 50 percent losses.
Regarding power cuts, he said the government is providing more electricity than last year. We are supplying 1,700-1,800 MW of electricity, but the demand is higher,” he added.
He stressed that once power projects in J&K are completed, more electricity will be available. Even if less power is generated in winter, we can store the power produced in summer for use in winter, he said.
The Chief Minister also pointed out that J&K’s power losses are over 50 percent, but efforts are being made to reduce them. “Other states have reduced their losses to 15-17 percent. We aim to bring ours below 20 percent so we can supply more power to people,” CM Omar said.
Regarding his election promise of 200 free units of electricity, Abdullah confirmed the scheme would begin in March or April, but only after full metering is completed. We can only measure units once metering is done,” he added.