New Delhi, January 30, 2006

Press Release

BSES detects over 70 cases of power theft in South Delhi’s posh residential area of Malviya Nagar

• Over 70 cases of power theft, including 62 for meter tampering in December and January
• Residents paying local electricians to slow down meters
• Average penalty  of Rs one lakh being raised against the each of the offenders
• Seven meters found tampered on January 27 alone

As part of its “Zero Tolerance” policy on power theft, BSES is continuing with its enforcement raids to detect and control the menace of rampant power theft in the national capital.

During December 2005 and January 2006, BRPL Enforcement Teams have detected over 70 cases of power theft in many blocks of the upmarket South Delhi residential area of Malviya Nagar, including Blocks A, B, G, L, M, N, R, 80 and Shivalik. Of the 71 case of power theft, 62 were by way of meter tampering. In rest of the cases, the accused were directly stealing electricity from the nearby BSES LV mains.

The total connected load of these offenders was assessed for over 650 KW, much beyond their sanctioned load. “Such large scale deliberate tampering of electronic meters clearly points to a disturbing trend: educated and well to do consumers are paying local electricians to tamper their meters. They must understand that stealing electricity is a crime punishable by law”, said a BSES spokesperson.

All the meters At Malviya Nagar were found to be deliberately slowed down by more than 60 percent and most had their seals either broken or re-fixed. This is in sharp contrastt to the recent raids in Neelkanth Apartments in I P Extension, where all the 17 meters were found tampered in 17 different ways, said a BSES official.

Seven cases of meter tampering were detected by BSES’ enforcement teams in a raid on 27 January 2006 alone in Malviya Nagar in Block 80 and Block G. The raids would continue in Malviya Nagar and adjoining areas, added a BSES official.

According to a BSES spokesperson “Frequent reports of power failure in the Malviya Nagar area led the enforcement team to conduct random meter checks. The meter checks revealed how residents in the area were drawing upto 20 times more than their sanctioned load and thereby paying much less by deliberately tampering their meters to record less consumption”.

BSES has charged these offenders for Dishonest Abstraction of Energy (DAE) and Direct Theft (DT), depending on the nature of power theft. “Stiff penalty would be imposed on these

offenders as per norms laid down in the Indian Electricity Act, 2003. An average penalty around Rs one lakh is being levied against each of the accused.

According to Mr J P Chalasani, Director BSES, “Power theft is omni present and people, for their own benefit, should pay for what they consume. Laws have now been strengthened to curb the menace of power theft. Power thieves would now face stiff penalties and even jail terms. Since November 2005, the Courts have sentenced more than six persons to jail terms, ranging from six months to two years, and levied penalties ranging from Rs 33,000 to over Rs 6 lakhs, besides rejecting anticipatory bails of many for indulging in power theft.” He appealed to all power consumers to help BSES eradicate the menace of power theft.

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