more-in Tamil Nadu has been ranked lowest in terms of State distribution companies’ quarterly performance as of December 2017, post joining the Centre’s Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY). The State had joined the scheme over a year ago. The scheme, covering 31 States and Union Territories, emphasises both financial turnaround and improvement in operational efficiencies of the distribution companies. A key parameter in which the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (Tangedco) is lagging is the gap between the average cost of supply per unit of power and per unit average realised. The target for Tamil Nadu was ?0.06 per unit and its achievement was ?0.22 per unit, as per the data. Also, Tamil Nadu has not made progress in terms of smart metering, distribution transformer metering in urban and rural areas, feeder segregation as per the data, while faring well in terms of distribution of LEDs under UJALA scheme. “The ranking might not give a clear picture. For example, Tamil Nadu got exemption from tariff hikes to join the scheme. Also, the State had achieved 100% electrification which is one of the parameters,” said an analyst who did not wish to be named. A Tangedco official said the utility does not track the UDAY rankings. T.N. government has taken over 75% of Tangedco’s ?30,420 crore debt. Tangedco is yet to issue the mandated government-guaranteed bonds for the remaining debt. Under the UDAY scheme, Tamil Nadu’s State utility has to reduce its Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses (AT and C) to 13.79% in FY 18, but has achieved only 13.84% as of December 2017. In the previous year, it was at 14.53%. A distribution company faces both technical and commercial loss. AT and C loss is nothing but the sum total of technical and commercial losses and shortage due to non-realization of billed amount. According to data provided by the government, as of December 2017, the AT and C losses in 24 of the UDAY states and Union Territories stood at 22.73%. In December 2016, these states reported cumulative AT and C losses of 20.3%. States like Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Maharashtra, and Tripura saw a spike in AT&C losses.

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