The Hindu : New Delhi News : BSES sop for consumers

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Saturday, Sep 01, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

BSES sop for consumers

Staff Reporter

Consumers reporting power theft to get
free CFLs
It will help in reducing the power demand and carbon emissions

NEW DELHI: Struggling to bring down thefts in its area of operation, power distribution company BSES is now wooing consumers with incentives for reporting theft.

The discom will hand out free compact fluorescent lamps as a reward to consumers who help in reporting power theft and in turn bringing down their losses.

Since July 2002, BYPL and BRPL have reduced Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses by 24 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively. The latest scheme of offering freebies, the discom says, will give a fillip to its ongoing power theft drive and also help in reducing the power demand and carbon emissions.

BSES claims that the reward, besides generating between 10,000- 12,000 leads, will also conserve over 2.5 million units of electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 9,000 tonnes a year.

Explaining the scheme, a BSES official said: “An informer will be rewarded energy-efficient CFLs for providing successful power theft leads. The idea behind the reward scheme is to acknowledge the contribution of honest consumers to fight the menace of power theft. To participate, all a customer has to do is leave a detailed and verifiable tip-off and their contact details at BRPL’s anti-power theft number 39999777 or email at theft.brpl@bsesdelhi.com.”

The information and the details of the informer will be kept strictly confidential. Consumers who report theft of 3-5 kW will be given a single CFL, while those who report a theft exceeding 5 kW will be rewarded with two CFLs.

“On receiving a valid tip-off, an enforcement raid will be carried out. If a power theft is detected at the address provided, the customer will be duly informed and the gift dispatched in a stipulated time frame.

This innovative scheme will initially run as a pilot project in BRPL areas and, depending on the response, will be rolled out in BYPL areas also,” the BSES official said.

Expecting a good response to the scheme, BSES has already procured 25,000 CFLs.

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