Nagaland: ‘Energy is a necessity but pay for what’s consumed’

March 23, 2021 60 Views No Comment

New 20MVA distribution sub-station installed in Dimapur

Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 22

The Department of Power, Nagaland (DoPN) has commissioned a new power distribution sub-station in Dimapur. With an installed capacity of 20 MVA, the new 33/11kv sub-station located at Forest colony, was inaugurated by Advisor for Power, Tovihoto Ayemi on March 22.

A long felt need, this will be the second 33/11Kv sub-station under SDO (E) 1, Dimapur Electrical Division and also the tenth major distribution sub-station of the Division.

When put into circuit, it is expected to alleviate power outages in key commercial zones of the city by shouldering about 40 percent of the existing load on 33/11Kv Metha sub-station.

It came at a cost of Rs 9.16cr through the Central government’s Integrated Power Development Scheme. As per the DoPN, the new substation is the fastest major project executed by the DOPN so far. It was sanctioned in 2018 with an original completion deadline of 18 months “but due to Covid-19 pandemic restriction, it got stretched to within 24 months.”

Advisor Ayemi described the inauguration of the sub-station as the realization of a long awaited need to improve power supply in a thickly populated area of Dimapur where a majority of the commercial activities in the city occurs.

He said that the Power department is one among a few that “do not sleep” serving to bring electricity to the people living in the biggest of towns to the remotest village irrespective of the costs and workforce involved. However, he added, “If at all we want energy, we have to transform (change) to improve.”

While stating that continuous power supply implies improved business and livelihoods, he said, “We have to pay for what we consume.”

He also inaugurated the installation of prepaid meters in the city. A project to install 10,000 prepaid meters in the city has been already set in motion. He informed that over 4000 installations have been completed and work on to install the rest.

The objective to shift to the prepaid mode has been to plug pilferage and under-billing but the move has not been without opposition.

Principal Secretary, Power, KD Vizo pointed out that power pilferage is very high in Dimapur and the time has come to stop ignoring the illegal drawing of power through open hooking and bypassing. He asserted that it is equivalent to stealing, while commenting, “The Bible says that thou shall not steal.”

Engineer-in-Chief, DoPN, Shikato Sema recalled that up till the early 1990s, the entire city was being fed by a single sub-station at Nagarjan but today it has grown to 10.

Chief Engineer (Distribution & Revenue), Moa Aier informed that during the same period, the demand in the city grew by 500 percent— soaring from 18MW to 90MW today. According to him, power is available on the grid but because of the demand far surpassing the installed distribution capacity, load-shedding is necessitated. To alleviate this, one more sub-station, in addition to the existing nine, was built. He added that buying power is expensive but it should not be a problem if the consumers pay.

10MW less on Metha
The existing load on Metha sub-station with an installed capacity of 20MVA would be reduced by 10.8MW when the Forest sub-station starts running. It however will require a few more days before the new sub-station comes into circuit.
The “restricted peak demand” on Metha is tipped at around 18MW at present.

It was informed that 7310 consumers in Riverbelt, Notun Basti, LRC, Lake View, Island colony, Midland, Nepali Basti, Tajen Ao Road, Kher Mahal, Landmark, Sewak, Forest and Residency, being fed via the existing ‘Dhobinalla feeder’ from Metha will be migrated.

“The new Sub Station will ensure stable power supply and lesser frequency of unscheduled power outages in the main town areas. The business establishments will be able to transact efficiently, and electricity revenue will improve,” said Lobosang Jamir, Superintending Engineer (Revenue).

Source: https://morungexpress.com/energy-is-a-necessity-but-pay-for-whats-consumed