Progress Snapshot of the UDAY Scheme

MOU signed by the States/Discoms so far:Comprehensive (16 states) : Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, Tamil Nadu & Meghalaya

Only Operational (10 states, 1 UT): Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Goa, Karnataka, Puducherry, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Tripura & Mizoram.

Status of DISCOM debt and issuance of bond under UDAY

As on 30.09.2015 total debt of all State owned DISCOMs was Rs. 3.95 lakh Cr. The 26 states and 1 UT which have joined the UDAY scheme account for total outstanding debt of Rs. 3.82 lakh Cr. Hence, ~97% of the total outstanding debt of all State DISCOMs has been covered under UDAY.

As per the scheme, total liability opted for restructuring by the States through issuance of Bonds was Rs. 2.69 lakh Cr, covering 15 states. So far, States have already issued Bonds of entire Rs. 2.09 lac crores and DISCOMs have issued Bonds worth Rs. 0.23 lac crores. Bonds worth Rs. 0.37 lakh Cr is yet to be issued by various DISCOMs. Hence, ~86% of the restructurable debt of States has been restructured so far under UDAY.

AT&C loss

National average (all UDAY states) of AT&C loss has come down to 20.2% in FY17. Major beneficiary states  are as follows:

State	FY16 (% achievement)	FY17 (% achievement)	Change from FY16 (%)
Manipur	44.2	36.9	7.3
Jharkhand	34.7	29.9	4.8
Haryana	29.8	25.9	3.9
Goa	17.1	13.3	3.8
Rajasthan	27.3	23.6	3.7
Uttarakhand	17.2	14.5	2.7
Gujarat	15.0	13.0	2.0

Under the initiatives of UDAY, continuous focus has been given on billing and collection efficiency of Discoms. At All India level, billing efficiency has increased by ~2% from 81% in FY16 to 83% in FY17.

ACS-ARR Gap

At overall level, the gap has reduced from 59 paisa per unit in FY16 to about 45 paisa per unit in FY17. The reduction in ACS-ARR Gap is the combined effect of savings in interest cost, power purchase cost, tariff rationalization, better billing/collection efficiency etc. and it is expected that these benefits shall continue and further improve in future and provide a sustainability to the distribution utilities. Major contributories are as follows:

State	FY16 achievement (Rs/kWh)	FY17 achievement (Rs/kWh)	Change from FY16 (Rs/kWh)
Rajasthan	1.68	0.5	1.18
Goa	1.5	0.71	0.79
Jammu & Kashmir	2.55	2.15	0.40
Chhattisgarh	0.23	-0.15	0.38
Himachal Pradesh	0.01	-0.26	0.27
Tamil Nadu	0.6	0.36	0.24
Andhra Pradesh	0.82	0.6	0.22
Uttar Pradesh	0.88	0.66	0.22
Telangana	0.75	0.64	0.11

 

Power purchase cost

Power purchase cost has reduced in many states. At overall level, the cost has reduced from Rs. 4.20 per unit in FY16 to about Rs. 4.16 per unit in FY17.Few benefitting states are:

State	FY16 (Rs per kWh)	FY17 (Rs per kWh)
Goa	3.34	2.85
Jammu & Kashmir	3.72	3.44
Gujarat	4.25	4.20
Bihar	4.39	4.26
Andhra Pradesh	4.70	4.32
Telangana	5.07	4.66
Haryana	5.05	5.01
UDAY States’ average	4.20	4.16

 

Interest cost Benefits

One of the major elements incorporated to boost the financial turnaround of the distribution utilities under UDAY is the financial re-engineering of the debt of the distribution companies to eliminate the legacy burden. As stated, Governments of 16 States have taken over of around Rs. 2.08 lac cr debt of the distribution companies as per terms of UDAY MoU.  Such loans were running at interest rates of around 11-12% p.a., which shall now be serviced by the States at rates ranging from 7%-8.5%.

Further a few DISCOMs have also restructured their balance loan portion at reduced rates, which will also reduce the interest burden by at around 3%-4%. The savings accrued to DISCOMs on account of interest benefits due to above, takeover & restructuring works out to Rs. 12000 crores approximately by December, 2016.

Operational highlights

 

• As per data uploaded in UDAY portal by the States, 100% Urban Feeders have been metered and ~97% of Rural Feeders have been Almost 50,000 rural/urban feeders out of total 1.6 lakh rural/urban feeders are being monitored centrally through national power portal. This will help in monitoring crucial power supply/ATC loss indices at feeder level.

• Nearly 2,036 lakh LED bulbs have been distributed so far under the UJALA scheme.
• Almost 91 lakh domestic households have been electrified post UDAY. AP, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Assam and Uttarakhand have exceeded UDAY targets for household connections. Bihar alone has achieved 40 lakh domestic connections.

State Specifics Positive Initiatives Under UDAY

Haryana

‘Mhara Gaon, Jagmag Gaon’ scheme was launched to ensure un-interrupted power supply and address high line losses in rural domestic areas. Total 519 feeders are being covered under this scheme and loss has decreased in 106 feeders.

Manipur

Manipur DISCOM (MSPDCL) has taken up the installation of Pre-paid metering to reduce the outstanding consumer debts, energy theft and improve the billing efficiency

Bihar

To reduce AT&C losses, DISCOMs of Bihar have implemented their own billing software in Urban and Rural areas and started Spot billing through web-based Mobile app with feature of image of meter reading on the consumer’s bills for better satisfaction of the consumers. Also, the DISCOMs have optimized power purchase cost by leveraging cheaper power available at power exchanges.