27.2.19

Ensure 24x7 power to all : Centre

The Centre primed states for ensuring 24x7 power, saying they will be held accountable for wilful blackouts from April 1 when all households in the country will have power connections and discoms will be fined for wilful blackouts.

“We need to ensure that we live up to the ‘Power for All’ agreement which we signed. Starting April 1, we expect discoms to supply power 24x7. Agriculture consumers will be exempt,” power minister R K Singh said, kicking off a two-day brainstorming session with counterparts from states. For good measure, Singh added that discoms will be held accountable for 24x7 power to all households, barring agriculture consumers where 8-10 hours of power supply is sufficient “as we also have to conserve ground water”.

Singh’s remark indicates the government’s focus shifting on keeping the lines to homes charged, now that the 100% household electrification scheme is nearly complete. Only 22,691 of the 2.52 unelectrified households remain to be electrified by March 31.

But the poor pace of turnaround in the financial health of discoms remains a worry as it would affect their ability to buy power to ensure 24X7 supply. States are way behind in meeting targets for key parameters, such as reducing distribution losses and improving bill collection, set in Uday — the scheme for restoring financial health of discoms. “The sector will not be sustainable unless we collect money for each unit distributed. We also need to shift to prepaid metering system,” Singh said in an indirect reference to the gap between the discoms’ cost of supply and revenue.

Power minister R K Singh said discoms will be fined for wilful blackouts from April 1, when all households in the country will have power connections

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