The Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) has registered its lowest-ever distribution loss of 5.61% for the financial year 2025-26, the lowest since the State-owned utility was set up.

According to official data the company recorded a total input energy of 28,200.50 million units (MU) against total sales of 26,618.45 MU. This left a distribution loss of 1,582.05 MU, or 5.61%. The company said the figure placed it among the better-performing government power distribution companies (DISCOMs) in India for loss reduction and energy accounting.

Officials said the result was significant given the utility’s operational terrain, which spans rural, tribal, agricultural, coastal and scattered consumer bases.

Data-driven corrections

The company attributed the improvement to energy audit corrections, feeder input validations, mapping corrections and monitoring across field units.

During an energy audit review of segregated agricultural feeders in July 2025 it was found that nearly 2 lakh non-agricultural consumers had been wrongly mapped onto Pure Agricultural (R5) and Mixed Agricultural (R7) feeders in the Operations Management System (OMS), despite having been physically shifted to 24-hour supply lines. The correction led to an assessed shortfall in agricultural consumption of 64.98 MU for the first quarter of the fiscal year (April to June 2025).

Infrastructure and feeder segregation

Under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) the number of Pure Agriculture (R5) feeders rose from 306 in April 2025 to 669 by March 2026, improving the accuracy of agricultural assessment.

Green energy integration

About 185.56 MU of clean energy was injected into the Low Tension (LT) network through Solar Rooftop (SRT) systems, helping to reduce LT distribution losses.

Technology adoption

The company said smart meter analytics helped identify power theft, missing voltage and current abnormalities, allowing it to recover and bill lost units.

Technical corrections covered field unit rectification, incorrect Multiplication Factors (MFs), CT/PT ratios, phase mismatches, polarity issues and feeder metering anomalies. Theft of Energy (TE) and Back Billing (BB) cases were integrated into the billing cycles in coordination with the Revenue Wing.

The road ahead

APEPDCL management has set a target to further lower distribution losses to 5% for the ongoing financial year (2026-27).

Achieving this will rely on expanding smart metering networks, improving energy auditing, speeding up RDSS works and stricter feeder-wise accountability among field officers through regular reviews, EPDCL Chairman and Managing Director I. Prudhvitej said.