Patna. Bihar is continuously setting new records in terms of electricity. The electricity extraction (transmission) capacity in the state has almost doubled the consumption. Currently, maximum power supply in Bihar is 7576 MW. Till last year, the company has developed the power extraction capacity in the state to 14 thousand 24 MW. That means this much electricity can be supplied in the state. In the year 2012, the power extraction capacity in the state was only two thousand MW. In the last 11 years, the company has increased the transmission capacity seven times.
The figure increased from 38 lakh to 190 lakh
11 years ago there were 38 lakh electricity consumers in the state, which has now increased to 1 crore 90 lakh. Due to Har Ghar Bijli Yojana, Bihar came to second place in the country in terms of rapidly increasing domestic consumers. Due to increase in the number of consumers, the demand for electricity in the state is increasing every year. According to an estimate, electricity consumption is increasing by about 600 MW every year.
at a glance
category 2012 2023
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grid 83 164
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Transmission Capacity-MW 2000 14024
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Maximum Supply-MW 1802 7576
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Power Sub-Station 545 1236
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Consumer- Lakh 38 190
Bihar was at third position in the last quarter
According to the report released in October last year, Bihar was at third place in the country in terms of domestic electricity consumers. Assam was at the first position and Jharkhand was at the second position. According to the report of the Central Government, there are about 90 percent domestic consumers in Bihar. In Bihar, North Bihar (North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited) has 92.1 percent domestic electricity consumers and South Bihar (South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited) has 86.8 percent domestic electricity consumers.
Industrial connections more in South Bihar
Leaving aside domestic consumers, there are only 16 percent urban consumers in North Bihar and 29 percent in South Bihar, whereas in rural areas, there are 84 percent consumers in North Bihar and 71 percent in South Bihar. Among non-domestic electricity consumers, there are 6 percent in North Bihar and 7.7 percent in South Bihar. In industrial connections, there were 0.6 percent consumers in North Bihar and one percent in South Bihar.
North Bihar lags behind in agricultural connection
South Bihar is ahead in agricultural connection compared to North Bihar. There are only 1.1 percent agricultural connections in North Bihar and 4.4 percent in South Bihar, while in other categories there are 0.2 percent agricultural connections in North Bihar and 0.4 percent in South Bihar. According to the report, the number of electricity consumers in Bihar is expected to increase by an average of six lakh every year. In Bihar, this number is expected to reach around two crore by March 2025.
Electricity consumption had increased in Corona
Due to the high number of domestic electricity consumers, electricity consumption had increased in Bihar during the Corona period. In other states of the country, there is a good number of industrial category consumers, whereas in Bihar, 90 percent of the consumers belong to the domestic category. For this reason, when there was lockdown due to Corona, factories were closed yesterday. While electricity consumption had decreased in other states of the country, it increased in Bihar. People used electronic devices extensively while sitting at home. For this reason, Bihar was among the few states in the country where electricity consumption had increased during the Corona period.
Loss reduced by 11 percent in four years
The power company has reduced its losses by 11 percent in four years. The company’s technical and commercial (AT&C) loss in financial year 2020 was 35 percent. In year 21 it decreased to 32 percent. At the same time, the loss has come down to 29 percent in year 22 and 24 percent in year 23. Due to these actions, while SBPDCL was kept in D category in 2022, it came to B Plus category in 2023, whereas in the same period, NBPDCL came to B category from C Plus. The company benefited commercially from reducing losses. For the first time the power company has made a profit of Rs 215 crore.