OdishaPlus Bureau
Both power distribution companies ( DISCOMs) and GRIDCO in State are in dire straits due to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as the revenue generation has gone down and Working capital Bank loans are on the rise.
With lockdown regulations in force, the revenue generation by the DISCOMs have been hard hit, sources said on Sunday.
The total revenue of four DISCOMs during 2019-20 was Rs10,193 crore, while revenue from Industrial and commercial consumers was expected at Rs 5982 crore, the sources said.
The fixed charges from industry and commercial consumers were pegged at Rs.868 crore, they added. Together the collections were pegged at Rs.6850 crore– nearly 70 percent revenue from industrial and commercial establishments.
With the lockdown in force, industrial and commercial establishments are nearly closed and power utilization has gone down drastically. Notably, over the years, State has developed an installed capacity of 7070 MW power, which includes 3067 MW thermal power, 2085 MW hydel power, 637 MW renewable power and 1281 MW Central sector power. The installed power available in the State has gone up to 3285 Mega Watt (MW).
According to the sources the power demand has gone down to 2405 MW due to lockdown regulation in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic as the industrial and commercial consumers were the major power users.
As a result, Odisha has 880 MW surplus power, which is being surrendered to the Inter-state Generation Stations (ISGS).
In the meantime, while revenue generation has gone down, the working capital loans of both GRIDCO and DISCOMs are on rise.
As on March 31, 2020, there was Rs 603 crore outstanding working capital loan on GRIDCO and DISCOMs.
The DISCOMs are also facing problem in receiving the dues from State Government and its various organizations. According to officials, the DISCOMS are to receive Rs.480 crore from government departments while Rs.1370 is payable to various generating companies such as NTPC, OHPC, IPPs by GRIDCO which procures bulk power for the DISCOMs.
The officials said that an amount of Rs. 5374 crore of GRIDCO is outstanding with various DISCOMs.CESU, NESCO, WESCO, SOUTHCO owe Rs 2158 crore, Rs. 997 crore, Rs.1217 crore, and Rs.1002 crore respectively while GRIDCO owes Rs.48 crore to PGCIL.
Different industry bodies have been representing to the Chief Minister for concessions like waiver/ remission/ deferment of minimum charges, fixed charges, electricity duties etc.
If any of the demands are met and GRIDCO were to resort to borrowings from financial institutions like REC/ PFC, it may be necessary to consider state subsidy since passing of any additional burden by way of hiked tariff will be objected by the consumers who are hard-pressed otherwise. Even the borrowings will entail government guarantee.
A judicious mix of market borrowing and state subsidy is required to tide over the situation in the state, stated a former Chief Secretary.