Report of Indian Institute of Public Administration ... - Ministry of Power

Haryana
of providing timely subsidy to the sector. From Rs 532 1 crore in 1999-2000, the
subsidy support has grown three fold and has reached a level of Rs 1,686 crore for
2006-07. Increased level of subsidies provided to the DISCOMs by the State seems to
have salvaged the financial performance of the DISCOMs. The Government’s
inability in the future to provide subsidy may seriously jeopardise the commercial
viability of the sector. This may call for rethinking about the existing low tariffs for
agricultural consumers, which continues to distort the financial health of the
DISCOMs.
Involving the public at large (through social awareness) in controlling electricity thefts
can further strengthen the reform process. The same can be implemented by providing
discounts in the electricity bills of the consumers either on an area or feeder basis that
helps the Utilities in controlling/eliminating thefts of electricity. It would help in
creating a better public consciousness about the need for greater social responsibility.
Such a cultural change is extremely important for effectively addressing the menace of
electricity thefts, which is one of the factors responsible for overwhelming losses
suffered by the Utilities. This aspect may be addressed by the Utilities in consultation
with the Regulatory Commission.
While the ARR is met through revenue from the projected sale of power and subsidy
available from the Government, in real terms, there is an increasing gap on account of
underperformance by the DISCOMs to recover the amount billed. This leaves a huge
gap in the revenue realised by the DISCOMs. A reversal of trend has been observed,
with DISCOMs reporting a profit of Rs 70 crore in 2003-04 against a loss of Rs 414
crore in 1999-2000. In 2004-05, the DISCOMs again reported a loss of around Rs 397
crore, which reflects that the DISCOMs could not sustain the efforts of enforcement
and other loss reduction initiatives.
The consumers in the State are subjected to massive load shedding of about 4 to 5 hrs
for various categories of consumers.
The performance of DHBVNL has been deteriorating since 2001-02. The failure rate
of distribution transformers (DTs) in DHBVNL increased to 19.4 per cent in 2004-05
from 17.9 per cent during 2001-02.
There were a large number of complaints pertaining to meters, around 70,000 in 2002-
03, which are high when compared to the initial number of complaints prior to
1 Source: HERC Tariff Order 1999-2000
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