MeECL unable to meet revenue target for FY 2012-13

Meghalaya Energy Corporation Ltd (MeECL) could not meet its annual revenue target of Rs 661.41 crore for FY 2012-13.
"The MeECL has failed to collect revenue of Rs 667.39 crore from the consumers awarded by the Meghalaya State Electricity Regulatory Commission (MSERC) to meet the Annaul Revenue Requirement (ARR) of Rs 661.41 crore," fact finding team member Jemino Mawthoh told reporters here.
He said this amount of Rs 661.41 crore was allowed as an ARR to the MeECL by the MSERC for the financial year of 2012-2013.
The fact finding team, comprising the Opposition, was constituted to make an in-depth study of the power sector and scenario in the state and to recommend for any action to the state government.

According to the team, the MSERC has allowed sale of electricity at 1,560.87 million units (MU) and corresponding revenue at Rs 667.39 crore to all categories of consumers based on application of MeECL.
It also found out that the MeECL could handle only 1,274 MU of energy against 1,560.87 MU and collected only Rs 501 crore as revenue against Rs 667.39 crore allowed by the Commission.

The UDP legislator who heads the team said the actual revenue should have been Rs 5.19 per unit against an ARR of Rs 661.41 crore approved by the commission but they collected only Rs 3.93 per unit on the energy sold.

"The gap therefore is 1.26 per unit (5.19 -3.93), causing a distribution loss of 32 per cent," he said adding "This is the gap between the average cost of supply and the average revenue."
According to him, with this loss, the energy available at Distribution Bus working backwards is 1874 MU in which at this rate, the shortfall to handle is Rs 160 crore.
The government is already in a dept-trap with the state-owned MeECL having pending due for the power it purchased from central generating stations to the tune of Rs 500 crore.
Questioning the steps taken to liquidate the huge outstanding dues, the report however stated that there is no solution to bail out the supply side of the business which in this case is the Distribution Licensee of the MeECL.

The FFT has also recommended the state government to look at the demand side and increase the generation and curtail the Transmission and Distribution losses.