Eastern Power aims to bring down distribution losses to 9%

The Eastern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Limited (EPDCL) is targeting to reduce distribution losses to 9 per cent by March 2008.

"If we can reduce the line losses, the company will not only get additional revenues, but will also be able to improve the entire operational system, including better customer services," Lav Agrawal, chairman and managing director, EPDCL, told Business Standard.

A one per cent reduction would fetch the company Rs 25 crore a year. Over the last four months, the company had been successful in cutting down the distribution losses by about 2.74 per cent.

Two years back, the distribution losses were about 17 per cent, which came down to 12.22 per cent by March 2007. This was further brought down to 9.44 per cent by November.

EPDCL distributes about 24.5 million units a day. Until November this year, the distribution losses stood at 554.34 million units (9.46 per cent) as compared with 627.52 million units during the corresponding period last year.

The company has organised meetings with suppliers for quality material and timely supply, which have also helped in reducing the line losses in a short period, he added.