Principal Secy asks power dept to focus on reducing losses

Principal Secretary, Power Development Department (PDD), H Rajesh Prasad, has asserted the need for maximising revenue and reducing Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses. He was reviewing the functioning of Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) on Thursday.

The Principal Secretary reviewed the performance of JPDCL’s all 1,400 feeders and observed significant improvements in many areas with reduced losses.

The Principal Secretary also asked officers to focus on reducing losses at all divisional and sub-divisional levels to 15 per cent. “J&K has one of the lowest power tariffs in the country, while power purchase prices are much higher and require advance payments,” he said while emphasising the importance of educating consumers to pay their dues on time.

JPDCL Managing Director Yasin Chaudhary, JKPTCL Managing Director, additional secretaries, chief engineers, chief electrical inspector and other JPDCL officers also attended the review meeting.

Prasad instructed the MD to conduct case studies of the best-performing districts to replicate successful practices in other areas. He also called for recognising and rewarding high-performing officers, while taking strict action against the underperformers.

He took stock of smart metering projects and appreciated notable progress in different districts of the UT. He expressed satisfaction with the outcomes, particularly in smart metered areas, where losses had decreased.

He issued directions that 100 percent smart-metered areas should be ensured continuous power supply; and reiterated that achieving 100 per cent smart metering on all feeders and distribution transformers (DTs) was a priority for the government.

The Principal Secretary called for the effective implementation of smart Feeder & DT Metering projects. These initiatives would improve energy accounting and load management, he added. He was informed that the JPDCL was close to completing feeder metering for all 1400 feeders, ahead of other states and UTs. He suggested addition of more features to feeder metering systems to improve tracking and remote monitoring of energy parameters and outages. This initiative would go a long way in overall automation and modernisation of power distribution sector, ultimately leading to enhanced consumer satisfaction, he added.

Earlier, the JPDCL MD provided an overview of performance parameters, including billing efficiency, collection efficiency and other commercial metrics. He highlighted that the total revenue collection of the JPDCL as on November 2024 had reached Rs 1,661.54 crore, marking an increase of 20.49 per cent as compared to the previous year.

He also apprised the attendees that the overall power situation in Jammu had significantly improved.