Government of India, the State of Punjab and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) which takes care of the power distribution activity of Punjab signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under the Scheme UDAY – “Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana” here today, for operational and financial turnaround of the DISCOMs. The signing ceremony was held in the august presence of the Union Minister of State for Power (IC) Shri Piyush Goyal and Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, Shri Sukhbir Singh Badal. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal said that Punjab will be highly benefitted by the UDAY especially the farmers and the industrialists. He also assured that the Power Ministry is in discussion with the Punjab Government about replacing all old water pumps with the improved, technologically advanced and energy efficient water pumps in the state. While, Shri Sukhbir Singh Badal appreciated the Power Minister for taking India from being power deficit country towards power surplus country and said that UDAY will be tackling total discom debt of Rs.20838 and thus revive the power sector of the state.
Under UDAY, seven states have signed MoU till date. The combined DISCOM debt that would be restructured in respect of these states is around Rs.1.6 lakh crore, which is approximately 37% of the total outstanding DISCOM debt of Rs.4.3 lakh crore as on 30th September, 2015. Today the Government of Punjab has taken a positive step towards supporting its DISCOM by signing the MOU under UDAY and agreeing to take over the debt of the DISCOM gradually. The Government of Punjab would take over Rs.15628 crore of DISCOM debt, being 75% of the total DISCOM debt of Rs.20838 crore outstanding as on 30.09.2015, as envisaged in the scheme. The scheme also provides for the balance debt of Rs.5210 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 annual saving in the interest cost to the State would be around Rs.625 crore on account of restructuring of the DISCOM debt. Besides trying to support the DISCOM financially, the MoU paves way for further improving operational efficiency of the already efficient DISCOM. Through compulsory Distribution Transformer metering, consumer indexing & GIS mapping of losses, upgrade/change transformers, meters etc., smart metering of high-end consumers, feeder audit etc. AT&C losses and transmission losses would be brought down, besides eliminating the gap between cost of supply of power and realisation. The reduction in AT&C losses and transmission losses to 14% and 2.5% respectively is likely to bring additional revenue of around Rs.1600 cr. during the period of turnaround.
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