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India’s
Escalating
Power Crisis by Anoop Verma
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In metropolitan cities like
Gurgaon, Delhi, Chennai and
Bangalore, citizens can face hours
without electricity, but they are
the lucky ones. In some parts of
India it can be days.
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Sprawling malls, gleaming
skyscrapers housing ndia’s software sector, luxurious
condominiums inhabited by
yuppie professionals, and a culture
that is amazingly liberal – Gurgaon, the
suburb south of New Delhi, possesses all
the nitty-gritty of a high-octane lifestyle.
Pitched as a millennium city, it has come
to symbolize India’s meteoric rise as an
economic powerhouse. Wait a minute!
Did I say economic powerhouse? But
how can there be a powerhouse when
there isn’t enough power going around?
As it turns out, a posh address from
Gurgaon is also a portrait of Indian
ambitions bumping up against Indian
realities. If you take a peep behind
the façade of glitz and opulence that
Gurgaon has come to epitomize, you
will find that there is hardly any mall,
building or condominium in this city
without its own backup generator and a
range of inverters as well. TCS, a global
software company, which maintains a
sprawling office in Gurgaon, cannot do
without its five giant generators that are
in operation most of the time.
Power cuts can go as long as eight
hours.
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There is no way for reputed
companies like TCS to continue their
business unless they make their own
arrangements for power. The result is
that there are almost as many diesel
fed generators in Gurgaon, as there are
offices, malls, cinema houses and even
residential buildings. You can imagine
what this plethora of generators would
be doing to the pollution levels in the
town. Many commercial establishments
are forced to use thousands of liters of
diesel every week in order to keep their
businesses powered.
If something is not done to rectify
the power problem in Gurgaon, then
the so called “millennium city” runs the
risk of turning into a medieval city. The
electricity crisis is bound to become even
more acute, because Gurgaon is growing
at a scorching pace and new material
aspirations are getting generated all
the time. There is no dearth of fancy
complexes where each apartment has
its own air conditioner, a flat-screen
television, a couple of laptops, vacuum
cleaner, a microwave and an electric
stove, etc – but where is the regular
power supply to run this army of electric
servants. The gap between India’s dreams
and its realities is certainly very deep.
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According to one survey done by a Gujarat
based NGO, there are today more mobile
phones in the country than there are
electricity connections. But that might be
because the business of mobile phones is
almost totally in private hands, while power
continues to remain mired in bureaucratic
red tape.
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A National Crisis
In metropolitan cities like Gurgaon,
Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore, citizens
can face hours without electricity, but
they are the lucky ones. In some parts of
India it can be days. India’s power sector
is terminally ill due to two malaises– abysmal distribution infrastructure
and very inadequate generation. The
state-owned power entities, mired
in mismanagement, corruption, and
debt, are found totally lacking of any
motivation to change the state of the
affairs.
In places like Delhi, where the situation
is thought to be comparatively better,
the T&D (transmission and distribution)
losses are around 30-40%. But in certain
areas of Bihar, Bengal and Uttra Pradesh,
T&D losses can go as high as 100%.
Every unit of electricity gets stolen or
is just lost in the maze of wires that our bureaucracy is too inefficient to untangle.
New generating capacity cannot come up
unless the distribution losses are tackled.
In some villages of Bihar people are
forced to use generators to charge their
mobile phones.
According to one survey
done by a Gujarat based NGO, there are
today more mobile phones in the country
than there are electricity connections.
But that might be because the business
of mobile phones is almost totally in
private hands, while power continues to
remain mired in bureaucratic red tape.
The only solution is for the power
sector to be handed over to private hands.
But politicians and bureaucrats won’t
agree to such a step. The corruption
and inefficiency in the power sector
might be bad for rest of the country,
but for politicians and bureaucrats it
is proving quite lucrative. They get to
line their pockets with kickbacks from
unscrupulous consumers and during the
time of elections they can dole out their “free electricity” schemes in order to woo
the voters. |
Coal: The elusive black
gold
The shortage of coal is one big headache
for the companies that are engaged in
generating electricity for the country.
Coal is critical to power generation in
India, with almost 61 per cent of the
installed generating capacity (110,000
MW) being coal-based. According to one
Government of India report, 20 plants
are facing critical situation, all due to
shortage of coal supplies. If coal were
available in adequate quantity then
these electricity plants could generate
an additional 3.6 billion units.
But why should the country be facing a
shortage of coal. With 80 billion tonnes
in proven reserves, the country should
be awash with it. The shortage is entirely
the result of mismanagement in coal
production. If electricity utilities in the
country are mismanaged, the government
entities that manage coal are rapaciously
inefficient.
The perils of nationalization!
Since the coal industry was nationalized
in 1971 the country has been plagued by
rampant pilferage, transport delays, and
a plethora of bureaucratic red tape that
chokes every aspect of coal production
and distribution.
It is generally accepted that
nationalization of coal was a bad
policy decision. There is even talk of
de-nationalizing the coal industry, but
political vested interests, who have a lot
to lose if the business of managing coal
passes off into efficient private hands,will not allow any amendment to the
Nationalization of Coal Act. So the only
alternative for the country is to import
coal from other countries and that is
exactly what is happening. Despite having
huge coal reserves of its own, India today
imports shiploads of coal from nations
such as Brazil. The nationalization of
coal has destroyed India’s coal industry.
The workers are poorly paid, and most of
the coal gets wasted or stolen, while the
common man goes without electricity. |
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It is estimated that
India’s electric
companies are losing
an enormous 30 to
40 percent of their
profits to thieves,
who manipulate
electric meters to
illegally wire up
their homes and
businesses.
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Electricity Theft
It is estimated that India’s electric
companies are losing an enormous 30 to
40 percent of their profits to thieves, who
manipulate electric meters to illegally
wire up their homes and businesses.
One estimate has put the loss at $10
billion a year for the whole country. The
amount is enough to cover the cost of
constructing many new electric power
plants, which are desperately needed
to satisfy the country’s voracious and
rapidly growing demand for electricity. In
some cities where there has been partial
privatization, the new power companies
have intensified their crackdown on the
practice of electricity theft.
But random meter checks can be dicey
and dangerous affair. Meter inspectors
are often pelted with stones and are
verbally abused by the thieves and
their cronies. They cannot do their job
unless they are given police protection.
A common strategy used by electricity
thieves is to split a set of wires into two
just before they reach an electricity
meter. Electricians can be found in every
city and town in the country, who for
a price, will connect one set of wires
directly to a switchboard, allowing them
to bypass the meter and provide current
to the apartment at a heavily discounted
rate.
At times the thieves tend to get
innovative. They might reconfigure the
wiring in the meter so that only thinner
cables remain connected to the rotary
apparatus that measures consumption.
With this scheme only a small fraction
of power consumed will get billed. When
local goons get into the fray, things
become more complicated. Cases have
come to light where goons have divided
electric wires before they reached the
building. They install their own meters
and are able to collect money directly
from the residents. Needless to say,
none of the money collected reaches the
electric companies.
There is no dearth of unscrupulous
operators, who are in the business of
lighting wedding ceremonies using a
dummy power generator to conceal the
fact that they divert power from electric
wires. If electricity theft is a problem in
residential areas, then it is absolutely
endemic in shops, hotels and factories.
It almost seems that majority of Indians
have accepted power theft as a way of
life. In such a situation, how can there
ever be adequate power in the country.
The problem is the feudalistic mindset
that makes people think that it is macho if
you can get away with committing small
misdemeanors, like stealing electricity.
According to a damning assessment
in year 2000 by Delhi government, the electric company failed to recoup the
cost of 52 percent of its supply. Seven
to nine percent was lost through natural
attrition, and the rest taken by thieves.
The situation, it seems, was allowed to go
on by crooked meter checkers who turned
a blind eye in exchange for bribes. Now
there is a private company, BSES, that
takes care of power distribution in Delhi.
But there is hardly any improvement in
the situation. The BSES has been able to
bring down its T&D losses to about 35%,
which is still way too high.
The biggest electricity thieves can
never be brought to the book, because
too often they turn out to be people who
wield immense political clout. More often
than not, the government machinery
is caught being a part of the problem.
Instead of protecting the consumers,
the government seems to be protecting
the numerous vested interests that have
been using the nation’s power sector as
their personal fiefdoms. Such a situation
cannot be allowed to go on forever. The
government must act as an enabling
agency, which can facilitate the entry
of private investors and entrepreneurs
in the power sector. Without power,
India’s bright dreams will be darkened
by reality.
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