10 lakh illegal agri connections bleed Telangana discoms

HYDERABAD: Ten lakh illegal agriculture connections in Telangana are pushing the state's power distribution companies to the brink with losses mounting by the day. Due to this, power consumption is not only going unaccounted but also burdening the distribution network severely, officials said.
The losses owing to these illegal connections run into thousands of crores, the officials confirmed.

Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) chairman T Sriranga Rao said there are 27.50 lakh agriculture connections under southern and northern distribution companies. "As per our estimates, there are another 10 lakh farm (illegal) connections across the state. This needs to be stopped as unauthorised tapping leads to power tripping and puts a burden on infrastructure. Also, discoms will lose revenue from the state government in the form of power subsidy," he told TOI.
Sriranga Rao said lakhs of illegal connections were thriving in erstwhile Khammam district alone where some farmers were allegedly drawing water from Godavari backwaters by fixing motors and pumpsets. In Kaleshwaram project catchment areas and Ghatkesar area near Hyderabad, water is being drawn from Musi River through nearly 10,000 illegal connections, he said.
The state government pays Rs 9,000 crore-Rs 10,000 crore annually to discoms towards subsidy to supply 24x7 free power to agriculture and poor domestic consumers. This financial year, the government has increased the subsidy to Rs 11,500 crore following an increase in free power connections.
Senior officials said farmers illegally tap electricity to draw water from canals, sub-canals, reservoirs and backwaters of rivers due to abundant availability of water in the state. Interestingly, the irrigation department kept mum though the farmers have been drawing water illegally. An official said since there is no cess in the state for usage of water, the farmers resort to unauthorised drawal.
TSERC, which vets the aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) of discoms, wants meters fixed at the distribution transformers since the government had refused to fix meters for agriculture connections. "Meters at DTRs are mandatory to study power consumption. From July, we will tour districts and check if the meters are fixed," Sriranga Rao said.
The Centre had asked the state government last year to get meters fixed for agriculture connections.