  The aim of this article is to draw attention to the importance of the
electric current loss in the energy output of radio pulsars. We remind that
even the losses attributed to the magneto-dipole radiation of a pulsar in
vacuum can be written as a result of an Ampere force action of the electric
currens flowing over the neutron star surface (Michel, 1991, Beskin et al.,
1993). It is this force that is responsible for the transfer of angular
momentum of a neutron star to an outgoing magneto-dipole wave. If a pulsar is
surrounded by plasma, and there is no longitudinal current in its
magnetosphere, there is no energy loss (Beskin et al., 1993, Mestel et al.,
1999). It is the longitudinal current closing within the pulsar polar cap that
exerts the retardation torque acting on the neutron star. This torque can be
determined if the structure of longitudinal current is known. Here we remind of
the solution by Beskin, Gurevitch & Istomin (1993) and discuss the validity of
such an assumption. The behavior of the recently observed "part-time job"
pulsar B1931+24 can be naturally explained within the model of current loss
while the magneto-dipole model faces difficulties.
