UDAY helped up discoms' profit; K'taka among worst performers

The Centre’s Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) helped most of the states cut down the gap between the average cost of power supply and average revenue of the power distribution companies, except four states that includes Karnataka.

As per the state-wise analysis prepared by the Union Ministry of Power, UDAY helped in the significant improvement in profitability and operational parameters in most of the states. However, in Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Assam, the gap is increasing due to low collection of bill amounts from consumers, high pilferage due to increased power theft and poor operational efficiency of power utilities.

Of the total 27 states and Union Territories, 23 are showing improvement in aggregate technical and commercial loss reduction (narrowing of gap between power cost and revenue), said an official in the ministry.

States like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Goa and Maharashtra are performing well in reducing AT and C (aggregate transmission and commercial) loss, while Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are showing improvement. States like Puducherry and Bihar have reduced power theft.

Since the launch of UDAY, the average AT&C losses of distribution companies, which is mainly due to power theft, reduced to 20% in FY17 from 21% in FY16, 25% in FY15, and 23% in FY14, said the official.

UDAY, a turnaround scheme launched by the NDA government in November 2015, is aimed at improving operational and bill collection efficiency of the companies.

Due to UDAY scheme, the combined losses of power utilities in 27 states and Union Territories in 2016-17 fell 21.5% a year ago to Rs 40,295 crore.