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50 MW to be restored - but, why was it cut?
murali772 - 6 August, 2008 | Bangalore | Power | Analysis
The power situation in the state may improve with the Centre promising to restore supply of 50 MW power, which was earlier reduced from the state's unallocated share and transferred to Andhra Pradesh. Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/50_MW_power_to_be_restored_to_Karnataka/articleshow/3331235.c
The question that arises is why did the centre cut this from Karnataka's quota, in the first place, and allocate it to Andhra Pradesh? The answer very likely is that the KPTCL was not clearing its dues to NTPC/ PGCIL on time. And, indeed how can it, when it owes over 11 months billings to KPCL (whose only customer it is), which in turn is hard put to pay Coal India and Railways. And, why is KPTCL not in a position to pay KPCL? Because the government is never in a position to release the subsidy component which forms a fairly large chunk of KPTCL's revenue, on time. All in all, a vicious cycle, leading to the state having to forego 50 MW (often more) of cheapest (used to be Rs 0.90 pu a few years back - shouldn't be much more than a Rupee now) power, ideally suited to meet the base load. This is even as the state is having to buy power at over Rs 8/- pu at crisis stages, which has become fairly common place now, affecting the entire downstream industry apart from the whole of the economy, in addition. And, the why of the crisis is also not far to seek - read http://praja.in/bangalore/blog/murali772/2008/05/28/imperatives-privatisation-power-distribution
And, with the government now announcing the free power (to the farmer) scheme, things are going to get even worse.
Muralidhar Rao
COMMENTS
shorting the money
tsubba - 6 August, 2008 - 11:37
hmm... never occurred to me. tendency for govt to default on payments internally. is that right?
perpetual crisis
murali772 - 11 August, 2008 - 09:41
Quote from article today's Indian Express, under the caption "Overdue bills hampering energy efficiency":
Tushar Girinath, MD, BESCOM, explained: "One of the main reasons for the high AT&C loss is that transmission and distribution losses are touching almost 20 per cent. There are three other factors - various gram panchayats do not pay the bills on time, besides urban local bodies and farmers. If these four categories are barred, the collection efficiency will almost touch 100 per cent." For the full report, click on:
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE120080811043543&Page=1&Title=Bangalore&Topic=0&
The problem is the four categories cannot be barred, the way things are. Forget the talk of efficiency - it's a perpetual crisis situation. The solutions are known - only there has to be political will to take them forward.
Muralidhar Rao
Power theft cases galore
murali772 - 24 August, 2008 - 05:53
A large section of the State’s population concentrated in the capital city has been siphoning off power at an alarming rate without paying for it.
Official data shows that in Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) region, an average 28 cases of electricity theft are detected every day.
As many as 10,457 cases of electricity theft have been detected in the BESCOM region as opposed to merely 515 cases in the MESCOM, 1,088 cases in the CESC, 353 cases in the HESCOM and 2,309 cases in the GESCOM in the previous year.
The number of theft cases detected in the BESCOM region alone accounts for more than twice the number of cases detected from all other utilities taken together.
For more, click on:
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE120080824033449&Page=1&Title=Bangalore&Topic=0&
This is happening plainly because of the lack of political will to enforce laws, and the scenario will remain that way as long as the service providers remain government entities. On a comparison, in Mumbai, not even Dawood Ibrahim's henchman, or Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, dare try any trick with Ani Ambani controlled Reliance Power, the local service provider. The answer is plain and simple, and Delhi has shown the way.
If the rain god hadn't responded to BSY's prayers on time, the power starved economy of the state would have come to a near stand-still. God helps only those who choose to help themselves. Possibly because he is new, God gave BSY a chance. BSY will do well not to test Him any further.
Muralidhar Rao
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