Chief Secretary discusses distribution reforms in power sector

Srinagar, Sep 7: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta Wednesday chaired the meeting of Power Development Department (PDD) to discuss the prospective reforms to be taken up in the distribution sector here in J&K.
The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary, Finance; Principal Secretary, PDD; DG Budget; Chief Engineers of the department and many other officers of the department.
The Chief Secretary impressed upon the officers to work on reduction of Actual Transmission & Distribution (AT&D) losses and take them down at least by 10% in each year to bring them within the permissible limits. He urged them to ensure quality power supply to consumers besides realization of pending liabilities from the consumers.
Dr Mehta also stressed on running a campaign to assure consumers that the department is committed to provide the quality power if they reimburse their dues on time. He suggested to install only smart in future and install the conventional meters from these areas in unmetered areas.
The Chief Secretary stressed on completion of all the works regarding installation of Smart metres and loss reduction in a time bound manner. He maintained that the endeavor of the department should be to provide round the clock electricity to all the consumers in next few years.
The meeting was informed that the department is to carry out Smart Metering works at the cost of Rs 1046.71 crores and loss reduction works at the cost of Rs 4595.20 crores under Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).
It was also revealed that under phase-I 115000 smart meters had been installed and in phase-II some 600000 more such meters would be installed till July, 2023. The meeting also discussed that a total of more than 21 lakh Smart Metres would be installed in the UT for bringing a substantial change in the power sector here besides providing 24×7 power supply to consumers here in next few years.