Gujarat tops discom rankings again
Uttar Pradesh languishes at bottom in central government review
The four power distribution companies (discoms) of Gujarat have topped an annual ranking by the Union power ministry for the fifth year in a row. Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, had not budged from its position at the bottom, the ministry noted in a report. These rankings mean more now as financially beleaguered power utilities undergo restructuring under the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme. Uttarakhand Power Corporation, which has made continuous improvements in curbing transmission losses and has a collection efficiency of 107.8 per cent with no subsidy from the state government, has moved to the top slot alongside the Gujarat utilities. SHREYA JAI reports
The four power distribution companies (discoms) of Gujarat have topped an annual ranking by the Union power ministry for the fifth year in a row. Uttar Pradesh (UP), on the other hand, had not budged from its position at the bottom, the ministry noted in a report. These rankings mean more now as financially beleaguered power utilities undergo restructuring under the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana scheme.
Uttarakhand Power Corporation, which has made continuous improvements in curbing transmission losses and has a collection efficiency of 107.8 per cent with no subsidy from the state government, has moved to the top slot alongside the Gujarat utilities.
The cost coverage ratio for 25 of the 41 rated utilities remained below 0.9 due to increase in expenses and non-cost reflective tariffs.
Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were the best performers in cost coverage and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation, Kanpur Electricity Supply Company, Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam and Jodhpur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam have shown more than 15 per cent improvement on this parameter.
Kanpur Electricity Supply Company, which moved up one notch to C+, reduced its aggregate technical and commercial losses to 22.1 per cent in 2015-16 from 34.4 per cent in 2014-15. Other discoms in UP are beset with weak financials, high transmission losses losses and negative net worth. The UP utilities, which have piled up ~54,000 crore in debts, trail those in Rajasthan, which have debts of ~84,000 crore. Jodhpur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam is in B grade and the other two, the ones in Ajmer and Jaipur, are in C grade.
Apart from ranking power discoms, the report reviews their performance. “There has been an increase in the number of utilities that have filed tariff petitions for 2017-18 on time,” the report said.