Power discoms welcome Centre’s debt relief scheme

The Centre plans a grant of over Rs 1.1 lakh crore to state power distribution companies under a new bailout scheme that would mandate discoms with high losses to either privatise operations or appoint distribution franchisees and invest in infrastructure upgradation.

“The government expects to spur about Rs 3 lakh crore of investments in distribution sector through latest discom restructuring scheme that it claims to be different from three previous initiatives. The scheme is a reform and result oriented where distribution companies will invest first and get money later- only when they perform,” TECA president SR Rabindar said.

Rabindar said that the scheme, previously proposed to be named as Atal Distribution System Improvement Yojana, or Aditya, is likely to come up in upcoming budget since previous Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna is expiring in March 2020.

“TECA welcome this decision as proposed government scheme will boost up discoms which are financially week and not able to make further investments in distribution sector. It is a positive measure for power sector, given availability of grants for infrastructure upgradation and chance to improveoperational efficiency of discoms,” he said.

The proper investment in distribution sector might curtail distribution loss and efficiency of power. “We also feel, subsidy release from government to discoms will remain critical for ensuring a sustainable improvement in financial position of discoms,” TECA president said.