Centre To Chalk Common Accounting Norms For Sebs

The Union power ministry, in association with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, is evolving common accounting standards for state electricity boards. The country is also on target to achieve power generation targets set under the 10th and 11th Five Year Plans.

Inaugurating the national conference on power sector reforms, Union power minister Suresh Prabhu said the annual accounting norms would be developed for all state electricity boards. The new prudential and disclosure norms are expected to be ready by December-end.

"As per records available with us the SEBs lose about Rs 25,000 crore annually. Our effort is to find out exactly how much are we losing exactly, an effort to find out the true and fair financial condition of the business."

 

At present, the Union Government has to go by whatever numbers the SEBs dole out and has no set procedure by which to know whether the losses represent the real picture.

By evolving common accounting standards the power ministry hopes that it will know exactly how much the SEBs are losing and under what heads.

"By law, SEBs should earn more than three per cent on capital employed and if that is not happening it is because there is a crisis of governance" the Union minister said.

In terms of achieving the target of adding 1 lakh mw of generating capacity in the next 12 years, the minister said the country was on target to achieve the generation targets set under the 10th and 11th Five Year Plans. "Implementation work has already started under the Ninth Plan," Prabhu said.

The government, he said, was organising 2000 roadshows across the country and educating the population on the problems facing the power industry in the country. The minister also said the Rs 41,000 crore owed to the Central power generating units by the SEBs would be liquidated and the respective state governments would soon issue bonds to ensure that the deficit would be wiped out.