Power engineers oppose proposed feederwise franchisees
Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar/Ambala, November 26
The Haryana Power Engineers Association has decided to oppose the proposed feeder-wise franchisee which is being introduced by the discoms to bring down the aggregate transmission and commercial (AT&C) losses being suffered by the power utilities.

The association, at its executive meeting, discussed the pitfalls of the franchisee system and other problems bring faced by the power engineers.

R S Dahiya and Daljit Singh, president and general secretary of the association, respectively, in a statement said the feeder-wise franchisee proposed by the discoms was a way to privatise the power sector of the state.

The discoms have proposed to hand over 80 feeders comprising four from each circle to private franchisees to bring the down AT&C losses.

Dahiya said these losses had been causing a dent in the financial health of the utilities. He said in some rural feeders, line losses ranged between 35 and 50 per cent due to rampant power theft. Feeder-wise franchisee would only help the private parties to garner profits, while the discoms would only get some temporary relief and lose in the long run.

The association lamented that power engineers would had been affective in curtailing the AT&C losses were facing repeated transfers at the behest of politicians. Dahiya said the association would organise a seminar on reduction of AT&C losses by curbing power theft.

The executive of the association suggested that the losses could be brought down only if the management of the power utilities would adopting the ‘Patiala Model’ in the state by which feeders losses were reduced from 54.72 per cent to 8.36 per cent.

The government should support the engineers to reduce transmission losses and curb power theft, said Dahiya.