UDAY

State-owned discoms across the country are financially and operationally beleaguered despite four reform schemes in the past 15 years

The SBD will be the guiding document for the state governments which might want to offer their discoms to private companies

Shreya Jai compares five-year data that reveals deterioration in the health of discoms

While state government guarantee offers comfort, operational inefficiency may continue to impact debt servicing ability of electricity distributors, say experts; the two stocks are down 10-13 per cent

Minister of state for power says soft loans at 8-10% interest rate being given to discoms to help them pay dues

Power sector's structural problems are revealed again

The plan is also up against supply issues with vendors reluctant to deliver to certain states due to payment concerns

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh stand a distant 2nd and 3rd with Rs 6,737 crore and Rs 4,913 crore, respectively, in power outstandings

State governments will need to reduce subsidies

The rising cost of power, along with increased power demand due to electrification schemes, has increased the expenditure of discoms

The new joint venture, named IntelliSmart Infrastructure will implement, finance and operate the smart meter roll-out program of power distribution companies

In Q1FY20, sales growth of transformers fell 7%, transmission lines 8%, capacitors by 29%

This is the first time in years that a finance minister has announced several reforms to reduce consumer electricity tariff

The Ministry of Power recently blamed the SERCs for not ordering regular tariff revision

Lack of actual reforms has undermined UDAY's promise

The scheme aimed at improved data tracking and monitoring to cut aggregate technical and commercial losses, but the uptake despite several initiatives and mandates has been low

UDAY does well, but needs to step up work in laggard states

The power distribution reforms program -Ujwal Discoms Assurance Yojana (UDAY) has helped discoms reduce their subsidy dependenceon their respective state governments, owing to improved liquidity position.State owned power distribution companies ofRajasthan, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar havereduced their subsidy booked as per percent of the revenue in the range of 5-10per cent in current fiscal over last year.According to data shared by the nodal RuralElectrification Corporation (REC), which monitors UDAY performance, states likeAndhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Haryana and Jharkhand reduced power purchase costup to 35 paise, 16 paise, 12 paise, 10 paise and 8 paise per unit respectivelyin October-December quarter this fiscal compared to 2015-16."UDAY is the most comprehensive powersector reform ever planned and executed in the country. It is a classic exampleof comprehensive, cooperative, collaborative, competitive, consensual andcompassionate ...

UDAY aims to reduce the interest burden, cost of power and energy losses

About 19 of the total 22 states that have joined the UjwalDISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) programme has invoked revisions in the tariffstructures till December 2016, said a report by CARE Ratings.Uday is the financial turnaround and revival package for electricitydistribution companies of India (DISCOMs) launched by power minister Piyush Goyalin November 2015. The revival roadmap is through allowing the concerned stategovernments to take over 75 percent of their debt and pay back the lenders byselling bonds. Discoms were allowed to issue bonds for the remaining 25 percent of their debt. Uday has put a target of 15 per cent for aggregate technicaland commercial (AT&C) losses and presently three of the 16 states on whichinformation is available have a number of less than 15 per cent, the report added."Four states, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur and J & K have losses of over 30per cent while UP is close to this mark at 29.3 per cent. These states willhave to work hard to lower their ...