Yes they do, local Substations do have capacitor banks and unloaded synchronous motors to compensate for the reactive load but even that is applicable to certain limits. you can Imagine that there is no way to compensate for all the reactive power. (Individual compensation is the best way to go about it, but its pretty useless in Global and sector compensation modes as sudden load changes may again screw up the system with over compensation) The More Suitable way is to go for distributed generation so the the long transmission lines don't play up, Yes we have HVDC to compensate for that but how many cost prohibitive HVDC line are there in the country?
What POSOCO is doing is rather good right now is the implementation of PMUs (Phasor Monitoring Units, Smart Grid solutions) which give real time data on grid and Load distribution from the grid can be made more effective. So that is one way to go ahead. but its also an infrastructure challenge as the electricity demand-supply grows, a huge task ahead.
Please refrain from extrapolating anecdotal references to entire systems/populations. Whether or not theft is taking place is mere an result of 1. Individual Inclination (kleptomania
) 2. The simple desire to have something Free 3. Ugly sense of Socialistic entitlement
.
And it is common in India, Irrespective of the notion that the N, NE, W, E & SE are some how not so civil societies and Gods Own Country is totally divine. (also there is a history of power theft in Maha TN and AP, today it has lessened thanks to technology and legislation, Karnataka is a free for all today). If you know someone high up in the Board ask for the data, you'll be surprised, perception vs reality game
oh BTW see this : (and its actually good that cases are getting reported.)
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-pape...er-theft-cases-on-the-rise/article6513822.ece