The study, which was submitted to the Union Power Ministry recently, shows that Civil Lines tops the list of localities which lose power during distribution in absolute terms with 348 million units.

On a percentage graph, Mayur Vihar tops the list at 76.66. This means that 76 per cent of the power meant for Mayur Vihar was either stolen or was not paid for. The figures for Daryaganj show negative loss implying miscalculation by DVB or over-billing.

While Civil Lines is the seat of the Delhi government, Mayur Vihar boasts of some of Delhi's best cooperative group housing colonies.

Based on this seven-month study, the report has calculated that Rs 2,000 crore of power is lost or stolen in a year. This translates into a loss of Rs 5 crore per day for the Delhi Vidyut Board. The figures collected for the seven-month period under review shows that almost 60 per cent of the power supplied by DVB is lost.

Of this, 5 per cent is during transmission from the generating station to DVB, and about 7.6 per cent in sub-transmission. While this is acceptable, what is surprising is that distribution losses and theft amount to 41 per cent. Add to this 6 per cent of power where the bills have not been recovered and the total is 47 per cent.

Using Delhi Vidyut Board figures, the study tracked the power consumed and lost over a period of seven months, April to October 1997, for 26 localities. The study has been done by Geneva-based company Intra Eff Services which is involved in technology to reduce power loss.

It was conducted by Joseph Auer of Intra Eff with Asok Dasgupta, a Delhi-based power consultant who is the former head of DLF Power.