Dehradun: A case has been filed against factory employees for electricity theft by tampering with the meter of the Vasu Steel Factory at the UPCL power plant located at Gurukul Narsan, but the owner’s name has not been included. Questions are being raised as to whether the employees were stealing electricity for the factory on their own.
UPCL and the police are demanding action against the factory owner who defrauded the headquarters of crores of rupees. In fact, large factories typically have one meter on the factory premises and another in the power plant.
Double metering is used to prevent power theft or other meter-related irregularities, but here, both meters were being tampered with. Investigating this matter will be a challenging task for UPCL, as there are a large number of steel factories operating in the Roorkee and Bhagwanpur areas.
Mangalore and Landhaura, among eight cities most notorious for power theft
Mangalore and Landhaura, among eight other cities in the state, are among the most notorious for power theft. Recently, the Regulatory Commission expressed concern during the hearing of UPCL’s review petition. It advised UPCL to control these high-loss feeders. This is clearly mentioned in the Commission’s decision rejecting the review petition. Aggregate technical and commercial losses (AT&C losses) were recorded at 30.58 percent in Gadarpur, 27 percent in Jaspur, 53.92 percent in Joshimath, 53 percent in Khatima, 27 percent in Laksar, 69.40 percent in Landhaura, 47.62 percent in Mangalore, and 27.25 percent in Sitarganj.
UPCL is incurring losses worth crores of rupees annually.
The Roorkee division recorded distribution losses of 31.21 percent in 2021-22, 31.09 percent in 2022-23, and 31.50 percent in 2023-24. The regulatory commission had acknowledged that these high-loss feeders were acting like a scourge for UPCL. UPCL is incurring losses worth crores of rupees annually. It is clear that power theft is rampant here, with the recent incident revealing the complicity of UPCL officials.
Energy accounting audit of all industries: UPCL MD Anil Kumar has ordered an energy accounting audit of all steel factories and other industries with high power consumption in the entire region, including Roorkee and Bhagwanpur. This will clarify the level of electricity consumption. If any irregularities are detected at any level, action will be taken accordingly.
