PATNA, May 13 -- Bihar's state-run power distribution companies are in the final stages of linking all 22.2 million electricity consumers with their respective distribution transformers in a major technology-driven exercise aimed at pinpointing power theft, improving energy accounting and forecasting electricity demand more accurately, officials said on Tuesday. The exercise, expected to be completed by June, is being carried out by the North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited and the South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited. As part of the project, power utility personnel are visiting households and establishments, photographing electricity meters and digitally tagging each consumer with the distribution transformer supplying power to the premises. Smart meters are also being installed at transformers to enable precise monitoring of electricity flow and consumption, said Rahul Kumar, managing director of the two discoms. He said the initiative would allow discoms to compare the exact quantum of electricity supplied to a transformer with the billed consumption linked to it, helping identify areas where power losses or pilferage occur. "We have assigned a unique code to every distribution transformer and tagged consumers with it. This will help us know the exact amount of power supplied to a transformer and the units billed against it. Any discrepancy will help us identify the source of power pilferage in the area," said Kumar. Apart from strengthening energy accounting, the initiative is also expected to help utilities assess transformer overloading and balance energy demand more efficiently. Dilip Kumar Singh, general manager of the Patna Electricity Supply Undertaking (PESU), said around 75% of transformer meter installation work in Patna has already been completed. "Normally, we keep the maximum energy demand at around 80% of a transformer's capacity. If a transformer is overloaded, we augment supply either by installing an additional transformer or by increasing its capacity," Singh said. He added that urban centres such as Patna predominantly use 500 kVA and 315 kVA transformers, while rural and semi-urban areas largely depend on 63 kVA, 100 kVA and 200 kVA transformers. Officials said the project would also enable the discoms to create an hourly database of area-wise electricity demand, allowing them to forecast load patterns more accurately. "Once all consumers are tagged with distribution transformers, we will have real-time data on electricity demand in specific areas. This will help us project demand more efficiently and avoid buying power at higher rates and selling it at lower tariffs," another official said. The Bihar State Power Holding Company Ltd has already completed the tagging of feeders with power substations and distribution transformers. The ongoing consumer-to-transformer mapping exercise is being seen as the final step in establishing end-to-end energy accounting across the state's power distribution network. The North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited and the South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited registered a significant decline in aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses in 2024-25, reducing them to 14.5% and 17% respectively, from around 20% in the previous financial year. The provisional AT&C loss for the two discoms is estimated to be around 13.54% for 2025-26....