CHANDIGARH, JULY 25
The Haryana Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal here today decided to provide loan of Rs. 750 crore to the discoms at a concessional rate of interest which is about 3% lower than the market rate under the Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) Scheme.
As per the scheme, the state government was required to take over 75 per cent of the debt of Haryana DISCOMs as on September 30,2015. The total debt as on the said date was estimated to be Rs 34,600 crore and 75 per cent of the debt amounting to Rs 25,950 crore has already been taken over by the state government and bonds issued there against at an average interest rate of 8.2 per cent per annum.
The Cabinet was informed that various initiatives and schemes have been implemented to reduce Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT and C) losses in the state. Urban Feeder Sanitization and Mhara Gaon Jagmag Gaon (MGJG) scheme are being implemented in urban and rural areas respectively. In both these schemes, Nigam has focused on the four major activities including improving accurate reading of energy meters via replacement of defective, faulty, burnt, glass broken, no display, inconsistent, electromechanical, and old version meters; minimizing occurrence of theft of energy via relocation of meters which are located inside the Consumer premises and are prone to theft of energy; preventive measures to eliminate direct theft of energy via replacing Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced (ACSR) bare conductors present in the theft prone areas with LT AB Cables to eliminate direct theft of energy and releasing of new connections in unauthorized colonies, pending connections, un-electrified households to bring them in to billing net.
Further, in urban areas, periodic checking is carried out focusing on Monthly Minimum Charges (MMC) Cases, Average Billing Cases, defective meters, electro-mechanical meters and similar exception lists being generated from the billing database. In Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (UHBVNL), the work of urban feeder sanitization on 347 feeders out of 586 feeders has been completed so far. In Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (DHBVNL), the work of urban feeder sanitization on 513 feeders out of 721 feeders has been completed.
It was also informed that under the Mhara Gaon Jagmag Gaon Scheme, in UHBVNL, 278 feeders have been covered under the scheme (Phase I to III) out of which the activities have been completed on 138 feeders and the supply hours increased accordingly. Another 125 feeders have been selected under Phase-IV. Similarly, in DHBVNL, 263 feeders have been covered under the scheme (Phase I to III) out of which the activities have been completed on 91 feeders and the supply hours increased accordingly. Another 125 feeders have been selected under Phase-IV.
Haryana DISCOMs have implemented the Surcharge Waiver Scheme and Voluntary Disclosure Scheme in financial year 2016-17 and 2017-18 for recovery of defaulting amount. As many as 179521 consumers opted for the Surcharge Waiver Scheme and an amount of Rs. 177.15 crore has been received from them. Similarly, 88722 consumers opted the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme and an amount of Rs 30.41 crore has been received from them.
The Cabinet was informed that preventive maintenance has been started in the DISCOMs. In UHBVNL, out of 2,657 feeders, patrolling activities of 2021 feeders and maintenance work of 905 feeders has been completed. In DHBVNL, out of 4,603 feeders, patrolling activities of 3684 feeders and maintenance work of 1133 feeders has been completed and the balance would be completed by September 2017. Further, Thermo Vision camera has been deployed at sub-station level to detect hot spots.
Meter reading for all consumers through Hand Held Device has been introduced where the meter reading of the consumers will be downloaded directly to the device without any manual or human intervention. The loss of units due to malpractice or human error will be mitigated by this process. Apart from this, reward scheme has also been introduced under which it has been decided to give incentive of 20 percent of the amount realized on account of final settlement will be paid to the authorised officer or official concerned or Nigam employee or private person including informer, if any, to personnel carrying out vigilance work.
Aggressive Theft Detection campaign has been initiated and in the last 31/2 months, thefts of Rs. 126 crore have been detected. In addition, in UHBVNL consumer indexing in Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) areas of 8,51,100 consumers out of 9,19,060 has been completed. Further, 2,832 feeders have been tagged out of 3,601 feeders in non-RAPDRP areas. Likewise, in DHBVNL consumer indexing in R-APDRP areas of 9, 05,750 consumer out of 10,61,302 has been completed. Further, 3,024 feeders have been tagged out of 3,513 feeder in non-RAPDRP areas.
Under the UJALA Scheme, against targeted sale of 30 lakh LED bulbs, 1.25 crore LED bulbs have been sold. Similarly, 32755 energy efficient fans and 1.24 lakh tube lights have been sold. DISCOMs have started the campaign for distribution of LED in Rural areas to reduce the input energy in these areas.
It was also informed in the meeting that several digital initiatives have been taken to facilitate the electricity consumers in the state. These included online payment facility for electricity bills through net banking, credit card, debit card, online wallet like Paytm, Mpesa and Common Service Center; online facility for submission of application form for new connection, extension of load, reduction of load and change of name; online facility for registration of grievance of consumers and online tracking of grievance; billing alerts and payment alerts on SMS and centralized call center for no electricity complaint with toll free number. As a result, Online payments have increased to nearly 40 % of the total revenue. Also, as a consumer service initiative a feedback cell has been created where regular feedback is being taken from consumers regarding quality of service and corrective action is being taken wherever required.
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