Telangana discoms sign MoU with Centre for UDAY scheme

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today told the State Legislative Assembly that two state-owned power discoms have signed a MoU with the Centre to join Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme.
Making a statement in the House, Rao said the two discoms in the state are having a long term debt of Rs 11897 crore (TSSPDCL- Rs 7392 crores and TSNPDCL - Rs 4505 crores) as on September 30, 2015 and under the Uday Scheme, the state government is taking over 75 per cent of the Discoms debt amounting to Rs 8923 crore.
"The balance loan amount of Rs 2974 crore will be restructured by the discoms by issuing bonds with Government Guarantee. As a result of taking over the loan by the state government, there is a relief of interest burden of Rs 890 crore per annum to the two Discoms and consumers at large.

Discoms will be able to raise funds with competitive rates from the financial institutions towards capital expenditures. The Government of Telangana is already providing a subsidy of Rs 4584 crore to the Discoms/Consumers," he said.
Taking a dig at the previous government for the state of affairs in power sector, KCR said the installed capacity of the state was 5863 MW as on June 2014 and his government initiated short, medium and long term measures to overcome the power problem.
He hoped that with the completion of pending power projects, the total installed capacity of the state will be about 27187 MW by 2019.

"By 2019, 27187 mw power capacity will be there in our state. Then the state will become self sufficient in power sector. Additional power generation will be there even after meeting all the necessities (domestic requirement)," he stated.

The UDAY web portal and mobile app would track and monitor
the progress of discoms on operational and financial parameters under the scheme.
An important part of the 'Digital India Initiative', the portal/app will ensure transparency, enhance accountability of various stakeholders and facilitate view of near real-time progress, enabling consumers to demand better services.
The portal would provide details of latest progress made by various discoms, as recent as last month/ quarter. The discom-level data will be integrated into state level and national level, which will then be processed and used for advanced performance analysis.

This will be the first time when the performance metrics of various discoms will be available on a single platform, which shall promote healthy competition among the discoms/States.
Citing examples of achievements under UDAY among States, the Minister quoted the Rajasthan discom where, in less than two years, annual losses of around Rs 15,000 crore will soon be converted into profits.
He also lauded Haryana's progress, where for example, all 173 villages in Panchkula have received 24x7 power supply.
On the occasion, Telangana and Assam joined UDAY today by signing Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the Ministry of Power for operational and financial turnaround of their respective discoms.

Others present on the occasion were Power Secretary P K Pujari, New & Renewable Energy Secretary Rajeev Kapoor, Telangana Special Chief Secreatary, Energy, Ajay Mishra and Assam Power Secertary Z Rahman Ahmed.