The state governments of Kerala, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have joined the Union Government’s DISCOM debt relief scheme, Ujjwal DISCOM Assurance Yojna (UDAY). So, twenty six states are now part of the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) Scheme.

An overall net benefit of approximately Rs 4,178 crore, Rs 309 crore and Rs 810 crore would accrue to the states of Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura respectively, by opting to participate in UDAY, by way of cheaper funds, reduction in Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) and transmission losses, interventions in energy efficiency, etc during the period of turnaround.

Kerala and Kerala State Electricity Board Ltd & Govt of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under the Scheme Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) for operational improvement of the Power Utility on March, 2 2017. Tripura & Arunachal Pradesh also joined the scheme for operational improvement of the States’ Power Distribution Departments.

The reduction in AT&C losses and transmission losses are 11% and 4.40% respectively by Kerala. For this Kerala can gain an additional revenue of around Rs 92 crore.

Arunachal Pradesh can gain an additional revenue of around Rs 279 crore by reducing AT&C losses and transmission losses by 10% & 3.50% respectively.

Tripura is likely to bring additional revenue of around Rs 554 crore by reducing AT&C losses and transmission losses by 15% & 4% respectively.

Coal swapping, coal rationalization, correction in coal grade slippage, availability of 100% washed coal would help to reduce cost of power. Kerala is expected to benefit around Rs 3600 crores and Tripura around Rs 156 crores due to coal reforms.

The gain is expected to be around Rs 480 crores, Rs 26 crores and Rs 96 crores for Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura respectively for usage of energy-efficient LED bulbs, agricultural pumps, fans & air-conditioners and efficient industrial equipment through PAT (Perform, Achieve, Trade).

As per Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) estimates, Rs 3.82 lakh crore is the total debt of states/UTs participating in UDAY scheme (25 states and 1 UT) as on September 30, 2015. This is 97 per cent of total DISCOMs’ debt. The total debt of the state-owned DISCOMs in the country as on September 30, 2015, was Rs 3.96 lakh crore.

Under the scheme, states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Haryana and Jharkhand reduced power purchase cost up to 35 paise, 16 paise, 12 paise, 10 paise and 8 paise per unit respectively in October-December quarter this fiscal compared to 2015-16.

Besides, the AT&C loss of UDAY states has reduced to 22.5% in April-December this fiscal, from 24 per cent in FY’16.

The scheme would also allow speedy availability of cheaper power to households in the States that are still without electricity. Availability of 24*7 power to unconnected villages/households etc. would boost the economy, provide more employment opportunities for the people of the three States.