Around 22 percent of electricity produced in India got lost during distribution in May 2018, according to the data compiled by ministry of power.

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Though the losses have come down significantly in last 12 months from 27.3 percent during the same month from the previous year.

There are many states where the transmission and distribution (T&D) loss is as high as 40%.

For instance, Odisha lost around 38.2 percent electricity during distribution and transmission in May 2018, worst performance among all states for which data is available.

Odisha is followed by Madhya Pradesh (37.7 percent) and West Bengal (31.44 percent).

However, there are few states which have T&D losses way below the national average.

Himachal Pradesh lost only 9.5 percent of electricity, lowest among all states.

Tamil Nadu (14 percent) and Kerala (15.26 percent) followed by Himachal Pradesh.

Except for Himachal Pradesh, most of the states making substantial T&D losses are located in the north and the eastern of the country, and southern states are the ones who have managed to keep the T&D loss below all-India average.

Tamil Nadu has shown significant improvement in cutting down their T&D losses in last 12 months. It's T&D losses improved from 22 percent in May, 2017 to 14 percent, last month.

In India, electricity distribution to the last mile is done by the power distribution companies (discoms).

The government of India has launched a scheme called UDAY to bring all ailing discoms to a state of operational efficiency, with state government taking over up to 75 percent of their respective discoms debt and issuing sovereign bonds to pay back the lenders.

The scheme was announced in November 2015 and is optional for the states to join.

Already, 32 states and union territories have joined this scheme, while Odisha and West Bengal are yet to join.

First Published:Jun 25, 2018 3:35 PM IST