Patna. In Bihar, power companies have prepared a new strategy to curb electricity theft and make the electricity distribution system more transparent. Now electricity will be monitored from the transformer to the consumer’s house. For this, the companies installing smart prepaid meters have also been entrusted with the responsibility of energy accounting for the next 10 years.
What is energy accounting?
Energy accounting is a technical process through which a comparative analysis of electricity distributed in an area and actual consumption by consumers is done. Under this, special SIM based equipment has been installed on every power distribution transformer. These devices send information about the power coming out of the transformer directly to the central server of the power companies.
After this the electricity usage and billing data of all the consumers in the concerned area is matched. If there is a big difference between the electricity sent from the transformer and the billing of consumers, then investigation of that area is started.
New responsibility for smart meter companies
The same company which has installed smart prepaid meters in an area will now also do energy accounting work there. Companies will have to find out why the billing is less than the amount of power being supplied from the transformer. For this, a detailed study of each consumer’s electricity consumption, sanctioned load and billing pattern will be done. After the analysis, the companies will submit a report to the electricity department, which will contain information about possible irregularities and cases of electricity theft.
Identifying electricity theft will be easy
Through the new system, such consumers can be identified whose electricity consumption is high but the bill is relatively low. Apart from this, cases like illegal connections, meter tampering and unauthorized load usage will also be monitored. Electricity companies believe that technology-based monitoring will go a long way in reducing the cases of theft and consumers paying bills honestly will also benefit.
What will be the impact on consumers?
The new system will not directly impact those consumers who regularly use electricity and pay their bills on time. However, the monitoring and investigation process for those involved in power theft or irregular consumption may be more stringent than before.
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