PANAJI
In a matter of grave concern, the Goa Electricity Department (GED) has projected an aggregate 12 per cent transmission and distribution loss in its five-year business plan, along with its petition seeking a nod from the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for a nearly six per cent average power tariff hike.
The JERC has accepted the tariff petition and fixed May 9 for a public hearing in Panaji, where consumers and the public will have a say. The GED has proposed power tariff hikes from the current financial year and for two consecutive years thereafter. No hikes have been proposed for 2028-29 and 2029-30.
According to the GED’s business plan, in the current 2025-26 fiscal, the department expects to lose 12.2% of the 6,523.71 million units it proposes to purchase in T&D losses — 7.95% on the intra-State grid and 4.25% on the inter-State grid.
In the next year (2026-27), the T&D losses have been pegged at 12.06% — 7.93% intra-State and 4.13% inter-State. Similarly, the T&D losses will be 7.92% intra-State and 4.02% inter-State in the following year (2027-28).
In the last two years of the ‘4th control period’ (2025-26 to 2029-30), the GED has projected the net T&D losses to be 11.83% and 11.70%.
The business plan suggests that the State will need to purchase 6,523.71 million units in the first year, 7,206.36 million units in the second year, 8,001.48 million units in the third, 8,954 million units in the fourth, and 10,132.35 million units in the final 2029-30 financial year.
T&D losses in Goa have historically been a significant issue in the sector, which have stubbornly remained above the 12% mark, grossly impacting both availability and energy costs.
While losses on account of technical issues in the grids, both inter-State and intra-State, are attributed to ageing infrastructure, there have been no explanations from the administration for commercial losses owing to theft.
Back in 2018-19, the Central government-owned Power Finance Corporation (PFC), which significantly funded Goa’s power infrastructure investments for several years, had pegged Goa’s Aggregate Technical and Commercial (ATC) losses at a whopping 15.68%.
These losses were even higher in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when power-guzzling steel rolling mills proliferated in the State’s industrial estates and were often accused of politically aided power theft.
