Discoms blame illegal e-rickshaw owners for power theft worth crores of rupees

Owners of e-rickshaws – mostly the ones run illegally – emerge as the biggest electricity thieves in the city, according to an ‘internal assessment’ by a private power distribution company.

The assessment claims this leaves discoms poorer by up to Rs 200 crore every year.
The assessment says the power thieves are not just from the city but e-rickshaw owners from NCR towns cross over to Delhi localities and pay mafias, which illegally tap power and run unauthorised charging stations. 

An e-rickshaw takes approximately six hours to charge and the entire operation is carried out at night.

“Most of these e-rickshaws are illegally charged in batches – which can go up to 50 at a time – as part of an organised illegal network run by the local mafia,” said a power-sector insider.
“Discoms are also planning a massive crackdown against power theft by e-rickshaws. Illegal charging not only burdens their customers but also poses a threat to the lives of the poor e-rickshaw drivers,” he added.

A fully charged e-rickshaw, operating on four 900 V batteries, runs for 80 km to 100 km per charge. The internal survey calculates that each e-rickshaw consumes an average of 7-10 units per day.

The survey claims that the discoms in Delhi are incurring an estimated monthly loss of Rs 14-17 crore due to power thefts by e-rickshaws. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.
Nearly 50 cases of e-rickshaw-related power thefts have been reported in the recent past, according to the survey. Many of these have been forwarded to special courts that deal with electricity theft.

The assessment says that the areas where these e-rickshaws are illegally serviced and charged include Keshav Puram and Civil Lines in north Delhi; Raghubir Nagar, Madipur and Tagore Garden in west Delhi; Batla House, Sangam Vihar, Kalkaji in south Delhi; and Sarai Kale Kha and Seelampur in east Delhi.

It adds that the local mafia also collects a fixed amount, in the range of Rs 70-100 from each rickshaw, in the name of ‘parking and charging’ expenses.

Illegal charging of e-rickshaws with live wires also poses a risk of risk of electrocution. Recently, an e-rickshaw driver was electrocuted while charging his vehicle with a live cable..

There are an estimated one lakh battery-operated rickshaws plying in the national capital. Most of them are assembled in workshops in the unorganised sector using kits from China.