Rajasthan joins “UDAY” scheme , 3rd State to sign MOU
Rajasthan joins “UDAY” scheme , 3rd State to sign
MOU
The Government of India, the State of Rajasthan and
the DISCOMs of Rajasthan (Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, Jodhpur Vidyut
Vitran Nigam Limited and Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited) signed Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) under the Scheme UDAY – “Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana”
today for operational and financial turnaround of the DISCOMs. The signing
ceremony was held in the august presence of the Shri
Piyush Goyal Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New &
Renewable Energy here today.
Rajasthan is the third State to sign
the MOU under UDAY, the other two States being Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The Scheme UDAY was launched by the
Government of India on 20th November, 2015 to ensure a
permanent and sustainable solution to the debt-ridden Distribution utilities to
achieve financial stability and growth. The Distribution Utilities across the
country have a long standing debt of almost Rs.4.3 Lakh crore. UDAY is
an effort to make these DISCOMs financially and operationally healthy, to be
able to supply adequate power at affordable rates, and enable the Governments
to make efforts towards 100% Village electrification and 24X7 Power For All.
By signing the MOU under UDAY, the
DISCOMs of Rajasthan have taken the first step towards financial turnaround. The
outstanding debt of the DISCOMs as on 30.09.2015 stands at Rs.80500 crore, out
of which 75%, ie. Rs.60500 crore would be taken over by the State, as envisaged
in the scheme. The scheme also provides for the balance debt of Rs.20000
crore to be re-priced or issued as State guaranteed DISCOM bonds, at coupon
rates around 3% less than the average existing interest rate. The
Rajasthan DISCOMs would have savings of about Rs.3000 crore in annual interest
cost through reduction of debt and through reduced interest rates on the
balance debt.
UDAY lays
stress on improving operational efficiencies of the DISCOMs. The State of
Rajasthan and the DISCOMs have committed to bring about operational efficiency
through compulsory Feeder and Distribution Transformer metering, consumer
indexing & GIS mapping of losses, upgrade/change transformers, meters etc.,
smart metering of high-end consumers, thereby bringing about reduction in
transmission losses and AT&C losses. The gap between cost of supply of power
and realisation will also be eliminated by FY 18. The reduction in
AT&C losses and transmission losses to 15% and 3.5% respectively is likely
to bring additional revenue of around Rs.7300 crore to DISCOMs till FY 19.
Demand Side interventions in UDAY such as usage of energy-efficient LED bulbs,
agricultural pumps, fans & air-conditioners and efficient industrial
equipment through PAT (Perform, Achieve, Trade) would help in reducing peak
load, flatten load curve and thus help in reducing energy consumption in the State
of Rajasthan. The gain is expected to be around Rs.2000 crore till FY
19.
The Central government would also
provide incentives to the DISCOMs and the State Government for improving Power
infrastructure in the State and for lowering the cost of power. The State of
Rajasthan would get additional/priority funding through the Central schemes
such as DDUGJY, IPDS, Power Sector Development Fund or such other schemes of
MOP and MNRE, if they meet the operational milestones outlined in the scheme.
The State shall also be supported through additional coal at notified prices
and in case of availability through higher capacity utilization, low cost power
from NTPC and other CPSUs. Other benefits such as coal swapping,
coal rationalization, correction in coal grade slippage, availability of 100%
washed coal would help the state to further reduce the cost of Power. The State
would gain around Rs.3000 crore due to these coal reforms. With the financial
turnaround through financial and operational efficiencies, the rating of the
DISCOMs would improve, which would help them in raising cheaper funds for their
future capital investment requirement. This is expected to provide
interest cost saving of around Rs.150 crore to the DISCOMs in 3 years.
Rajasthan would derive an overall net
benefit of approximately Rs.21000 crore through UDAY, by way of savings in
interest cost, reduction in AT&C and transmission losses, interventions in
energy efficiency, coal reforms etc.
The ultimate benefit of signing the MOU
would go to the people of Rajasthan. Higher demand for power from DISCOMs would
mean higher PLF of Generating units and therefore, lesser cost per unit of
electricity thereby benefitting consumers. The DISCOMs would also increase
power supply in areas with reduced AT&C losses. The scheme would
allow speedy availability of power to around 396 villages and 30 lakh
households in Rajasthan that are still without electricity. Availability of
24x7 power to hitherto unconnected villages/households etc. would increase the
economic activity and improve employment opportunities. This MOU can see
Rajasthan develop into one of the leading industrialised States in India.
Signing of this
MoU under UDAY will accelerate the process of reform across the entire power
sector and will ensure 24x7 Power For All at affordable rate. In true
sense, the scheme would also herald the UDAY (rise) of a ‘Powerful India’.
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