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.