Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 6: The Government of India’s initiative -UDAY (Ujwal Discoms Assurance Yojana) is slowly lighting up decades of blackouts though slowly but consistently by bringing about effective changes in the State power distribution companies.
UDAY was launched 2 years ago on 5th November 2015, when the discoms were submerged in a collective debt amounting to Rs 3.95 lakh crore. The bonds worth Rs 2.32 lakh crore or nearly 87% which have been floated have acted as a major breather for them bringing down the average annual loss from Rs 51,340 crore in fiscal 2016 to Rs 40,295 crore in 2017.
The recent data presented during the review of UDAY has shown remarkable improvements in the key parameters which determine the health of the discoms. A dedicated effort towards reduction of AT&C (Aggregate Transmission and Commercial) losses has been achieved through extensive metering. This has been a major factor in bringing down the power cut spells for the end consumer by 61%. The duration of power cuts was 19.38 hours in the year – ago period as compared to 7.45 now according to a recent statement issued by the Government of India.
The streamlined billing and collection has also helped in improving the financial scenario of the discoms. The improvement in the overall scenario can be assessed by the fact that 12 states have recorded reduction in AT&C losses and 15 States have seen a decline in the gap between their aggregate cost of supply and aggregate rate of realisation (ACS) from 59 paisa per unit in 2016-2017 to about 45 paisa per unit now.
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