Transmission Loss

Think of pouring water through a very long hose, some inevitably evaporates or leaks out along the way before reaching the other end, even if the hose has no obvious hole in it. Transmission loss is that same natural leakage applied to electricity, power lost as heat while being carried over high voltage lines between a generating station and a distribution substation.

Some transmission loss is physically unavoidable, since electrical resistance in wires always converts a portion of transmitted power into heat, but the actual percentage lost depends heavily on the quality of infrastructure, the voltage level used, and the distance power travels. India has steadily invested in higher voltage transmission corridors specifically to cut these losses, since higher voltage transmission is inherently more efficient over long distances.

Transmission loss is distinct from, and generally smaller than, distribution loss, the losses that occur further downstream between a substation and the final household or business, which remains the bigger financial headache for most Indian utilities.