Gurugram: Drive identifies 1,500 cases of power theft in Oct, ₹5 crore collected as fine

In Gurugram, which comes under the Delhi circle, the power utility carried out 530 checks and found 220 incidents of thefts, which led to fines of ₹2 crore on violators. DHBVN officials on Saturday said that the drive against power theft will be further intensified

Gurugram: The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has identified over 1,500 incidents of power theft and recovered over ₹5 crore as fines, after carrying out more than 5,000 surprise checks in its Delhi and Hisar circles last month.

The highest number of theft incidents were reported from Hisar (290) and Bhiwani (283) during the month-long drive. (REUTERS)

In Gurugram, which comes under the Delhi circle, the power utility carried out 530 checks and found 220 incidents of thefts, which led to fines of ₹2 crore on violators.

DHBVN officials on Saturday said that the drive against power theft will be further intensified, with a special focus on large connections, and action will be taken against violators.

As per details shared by the power utility, overall, 228 teams checked 5,041 connections and identified 1,509 incidents of power theft.

The highest number of theft incidents were reported from Hisar (290) and Bhiwani (283) during the month-long drive.

According to DHBVN data, in Gurugram circle one, 278 connections were checked out of which power theft was reported in 128 connections; circle two reported 95 incidents of power theft out of the 260 connections checked. The discom has divided Gurugram city into two zones -- the old city and surrounding sectors come in circle one, the developing sectors and outskirts fall in circle two. DHBVN officials said ₹1.3 crore was realised as penalty from violators in Gurugram.

DHBVN officials said that in the future, they will also analyse consumption patterns and usage data to plan more effective enforcement drives. Large connection holders and bulk consumers will also be brought under the scanner to ensure the line losses are minimised, they said.

DHBVN managed to reduce aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses by 2.87% in 2020-21 and a major reason for this, officials said, was that they managed to stop electricity theft on a large scale.

The department registered 48,729 cases of power theft in 2020-21 and ₹16 crore was recovered in fines.