Capex programme to record Rs 350 cr spending by March

The capital expenditure (Capex) programme taken up mainly with the objective to bring down the AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) loss is set to clock Rs 350 crore spending by the end of March this year.

"Material procurement for implementation of the Capex programme for distribution companies (discoms) has already begun. We expect an expenditure of Rs 350 crore on the programme by the end of March 2012”, a highly placed official source told Business Standard.

In November last year, the state government had announced a Capex of Rs 2400 crore for the four distribution utilities in the state- Central Electricity Supply Utility of Orissa Ltd (Cesu), North-eastern Electricity Supply Company of Orissa (Nesco), Southern Electricity Supply Company of Orissa (Southco) and Western Electricity Supply Company of Orissa (Wesco).

The state government has released Rs 205 crore in 2010-11 and has made a budget provision of Rs 325 crore, including the 13th Finance Commission's grant of Rs 125 crore, for 2011-12.

An expenditure Rs 2400-crore is set to be incurred during 2010-11 to 2013-14 and it is aimed at bringing down the AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) loss by 12-13 per cent. One per cent reduction of AT&C loss will contribute Rs 60 crore per annum.

Out of the total expenditure of Rs 2400 crore, the state government will provide Rs 1200 crore while the four discoms will mobilize the remaining Rs 1200 crore.

Of the financial assistance of Rs 1200 crore to be provided by the state government, Rs 500 crore would come from the 13th Finance Commission which is to be passed on to the discoms at zero per cent interest.

A technical committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Engineer-in-Chief (electricity) to examine and recommend the required equipment specifications and place the same before the monitoring committee for their adoption.

The monitoring committee has so far held 13 meetings and approved technical specification of 19 major items including commercial terms of procurement and turnkey contract.

The detailed project reports prepared by Cesu (Rs 406.49 crore), Nesco (Rs 189 crore), Wesco (Rs 185.5 crore) and Southco (Rs 190.25 crore) have already been approved by the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC).