Power thefts from NPDCL: Mancherial tops in cases

Pilferage of electricity by consumers of domestic and commercial connections in a large scale has become a cause for concern to the NPDCL

Mancherial: A whopping fine of Rs 32.10 lakh was imposed against a popular bakery of Mancherial town for stealing over 90 percent of electricity out of 100 percent supplied to it in a month recently.

Another bakery of the town was slapped with a fine of Rs 32 lakh for committing the similar offence. A penalty of Rs 5.23 lakh was levied against an owner of a house in the town for pilferage of power a few weeks back.

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In a disturbing new trend, pilferage of electricity by consumers of domestic and commercial connections in a large scale has become a cause for concern to the Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (NPDCL). Cases of tampering sealed meters to steal power are on the rise in Mancherial district, causing huge losses to the company.

The district registered 69 cases of tampering of energy meters from April 1 to January 10, as against 12 cases between October 22 of 2021 and March 31 of 2022, reflecting a steep increase in power theft. The value of the fines imposed against offenders was Rs 1.17 crore which Rs 65.10 lakh were received in this financial year, as per information provided by officials of NPDCL’s Detection of Pilferage of Energy (DPE) wing.

“The district is seeing a substantial rise in cases of tampering of sealed meters since 2021. The NPDCL did not witness such menace in the past. Incidentally, Mancherial is top in recording in the cases among 16 districts that get power from the company. Steps are being taken to curb the tampering,” DPE Mancherial Assistant Divisional Engineer A Rajesham told ‘Telangana Today.’

Modus operandi

The meters are sealed by NPDCL to prevent tampering. But, the seals are either disturbed or unlocked before modifying a circuit, a key component that records the reading of the consumption of power.

Holes are drilled in the rear of the meter to remove important components and to reduce the speed. Soldering of motherboards of the meters is altered to slow down the device. The offenders are following many other techniques to slash usage of the electricity.