Scorching months ahead

Hot summer has arrived and so have power cuts in Nagaland. Day time temperatures in Dimapur have soared to between 28˚ to 30˚ C, indicating a long and terribly hot summer ahead. What has made the heat and humidity especially in Dimapur, worse is the perennial power cut. Those in Dimapur, especially those who cannot afford to own back up generators will be hardest hit. Frequency of power cuts in Dimapur occur at almost regular intervals of around two hours. Even sensitive equipments are damaged due to power fluctuations and has caused huge losses to business, especially storage and small units that are wholly dependent on power supply. Generators are meant as standby but in the prevailing circumstances, they have become the mainstay as power from the department, has become the standby. The problem arises due to shortage of power available for supply. This is caused due to shortfall in power where, against the requirement of around 175 MW the state gets around 140 MW. It is worse during the heat and humidity at peak hours everyday. Nagaland has been struggling to obtain required power for several decades but loss in transmission and revenues have only compounded the problem. With demand for power being ever high, the purchase rate on short term during the summer months is also sky high. According to reports, the purchase price at such a period is around Rs.15 per unit of electricity; while the selling rate is around Rs.7 to 8 per unit of electricity. That makes no economic sense for the government but that is not the main worry. It has been stated often by the power department that Nagaland buys electricity worth around `400 Crores but at the end the department is able to recover only Rs. 162 Crores (As per 2019-2020). During a five year period, Nagaland lost around Rs.1000 Crores due to inability to effectively recover electricity bills. When the power loss in Nagaland is almost 50% and double the national average, it calls for serious attention of the department as to why this abnormal figure continues to hinder efficiency in the system of transmission and supply. The department has been on the job in making all efforts to streamline the system but despite all these, the consumers are still plagued with regular power interruptions that last as long as one hour or more. In order to reduce such a huge loss in revenue, the power department has been trying to incorporate state-of-the-art technology to improve transmission, generation and distribution sector to enhance revenue collections. In the past several years, it has become almost a regular feature for the department to announce loss amounting to approximately over Rs.100 crore annually. On the other hand, there have been numerous complaints about consumers being handed inflated bills. This is highlighted when consumers believe they are being billed for non-supply of power and blamed it on improper metering or inefficiency. The option of providing pre-paid meters may serve the department with regard to revenue collection even if consumers cry foul over having to pay a high price. Power in theory and powerless in practise seems to be the prescription for the suffering power consumers of Nagaland and this needs to be addressed urgently.