'Haryana power consumers pay less than Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan'

 

Power consumers in Haryana pay 80 paise to Rs 1.92 a unit less than what power consumer pays in other states like Punjab, Delhi and Maharashtra, Haryana power utilities said on Monday.

 

An average consumer in Haryana pays Rs 4.41 per unit while consumer in Punjab is charged Rs 5.71 per unit, an official spokesman said here in a release.

He added that an average rate of power in Rajasthan and Maharashtra stands at Rs 5.19 and Rs 6.33 per unit, respectively.

Comparing the power charged for heavy industry, he said Haryana industry also pays far less the what is being charged in Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Maharashtra from industry. The spokesman said heavy industry in Haryana pays Rs 4.92 a unit whereas power tariff for industry in Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Maharashtra is Rs 6.03, Rs 6.85, Rs 5.74 and Rs 7.63 per unit, respectively.

Both Haryana discoms -- Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam -- are facing a gap of Rs 2.50 per unit between average cost of supply and average revenue realised from power.

Moreover, they are also bearing 90 paise to Re 1 a unit as interest burden on account of huge short-term liabilities, official sources said here.

The costly power purchase has also put a strain on utilities' resources. In last 10 years, the cost of power purchase (accounts for 80 per cent of cost of supply) for both discoms in Haryana have surged 330 per cent while tariff had just gone up by 27 per cent, resulting into sharp increase in debt burden for working capital requirements and debt servicing.

Official spokesman said 70 to 80 per cent increase in the cost of per unit of energy supplied is at generation level, which is not in control of the distribution companies and only 20 to 25 per cent cost increase is in distribution business.

The poor fiscal health of power utilities could be gauged from the fact that both discoms are facing short-term liabilities of Rs 19,000 crore and accumulated losses to the tune of Rs 8,830 crore because of considerable difference between cost of power supply and rate of return. To bring down mounting losses, Haryana power utilities have demanded from Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission to levy fuel surcharge adjustment and regulatory assets surcharge to recover over Rs 5,000 crore in aggregate revenue return for 2013-14. Meanwhile, Haryana power utilities said a sum of Rs 2,500 crore has been proposed to be spent on strengthening and augmenting the power distribution system in the state to provide reliable and qualitative power supply. CMD of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, Devender Singh said the discoms propose to strengthen and augment power distribution system in to provide qualitative power supply to all categories of consumers.