Acute power shortage has once again gripped the State, causing miseries to the consumers besides hitting trade and industry hard. While insufficient generation of power coupled with a decrepit transmission and distribution (T&D) network has been at the root of the problem, a spurt in theft of tower parts and conductors has made matters worse. According to the ASEB, theft of tower parts and conductors resulted in revenue loss of at least Rs 12 crore between March 29 and April 10 besides disrupting the T&D network. The harrowed consumer, however, would be little assuaged by the ASEB's reasoning. The State's dismal power situation has hardly made any improvement in recent times, notwithstanding the implementation of the much-hyped power reforms for the past three years or so. While it is understandable that it would take some time for all the benefits of the reforms to reach the consumers, some positive changes should have been perceptible by now. For the harrowed consumer, the situation remains same as before. The shortfall of power during peak load hours continues to be more than 250 MW as against the demand for 800 MW. This shortfall is almost one-third of the peak hour demand