Governments’ initiatives to combat power theft

The Indian government has taken a number of measures to combat power theft. Preventive measures include specific rules dealing with theft and unauthorised use of electricity in the Electricity Act of 2003 (Sections 126 and 135 to 141), which include harsh penalties and expedited Special Court trials for such offences (Part XV of the Electricity Act 2003).
A provision in the RDSS mandates that qualifying DISCOMs receive financial support in order to install pre-paid smart meters for 25 Crore consumers and system metering with communication features by March 2025. Under this programme, cutting-edge ICT, such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI and ML), will be used to analyse data from smart meters to detect theft cases and prepare actionable MIS from system-generated energy accounting reports so that the DISCOMs can make informed decisions about power theft as well as loss reduction.
The upgrading of distribution infrastructure, which includes steps to reduce losses and theft by using ABC cable, UG cable, HVDS, etc., is being funded for eligible DISCOMs. This will make it easier to lower utility distribution losses, such as electricity theft.
In accordance with the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, the distribution licensee must make arrangements to post feeder-specific outage data, efforts made to minimise outages, prevention of theft or unauthorised use of electricity or tampering, distress or damage to electrical plant, electric lines, or meters, and results obtained throughout the year on its website.
Tariff Policy 2016 aims for distribution businesses to have enabling features such as distribution SCADA with distribution management systems and energy audit functions in order to decrease energy theft.