Managing the electricity theft menace

India has world’s fifth largest installed capacity for power generation, but more than 300 million people in the country still do not have any access toelectricity. One significant contributingfactor to this insufficiency is the staggering network loss, exceeding 30percent. Such a huge loss in transmission and distribution (T&D) further raises the demand and places increasing pressure on the installed capacity.Though it is difficult to quantify the proportion of electricity theft in T&D losses, it is undoubtedly a major contributor. As a consequence, utility organizations have been running hugelosses, resulting in increased power tariff for the end user.Power theft results in a situation where all the stakeholders, including those responsible for the pilferage in the first place, get affected. While stronger vigilance and better technology can address the issue to an extent, I believe there is a greater need for awareness among people and having greater focus on building the overall infrastructure. While, citizens must have access to such an essential element of modern day life, they should not expect it for free either. What do you think?