South African utility Eskom claims that it ensures power transmission and distribution losses are well below 10% through a mix of energy efficiency initiatives and campaigns.

Mr Brian Dames chief executive of Eskom, which is into generation, transmission and distribution of electricity told PTI that since April 2008 his company has not imposed load shedding.

Mr Dames noted that recovery of dues, prevention of theft and reduction of losses are the responsibilities of the local distributor.

Power theft and non recovery of dues are some of the factors responsible for huge T&D losses pegged at about 30% of transmission in India.

He said that "Eskom began an operational turn around programme that primarily involved implementing an entirely new SAP system, replacing the five systems with a single one, on-time and within budget."

Mr Dames said that the 'Back2Basics' program was aimed at simplifying processes and make them more efficient and effective.

The utility has also been hiking tariffs regularly and the last increase in April was an average of 16%

Source - PTI

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