Minister of State for Power, Shri Jyotiraditya
Scindia today said that the government has been able
to surpass the targets set for the RGGVY under the Bharat
Nirman programme. Against a target of 1 lakh villages and 1.75 crore BPL
households, the government has provided electricity to 1.04 lakh
villages and provided free connections to 1.95 crore
BPL households. Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia
said this while addressing the 6th Annual Conference of State Power
Ministers held in Delhi. The Minister said, the power
sector today faces a paradox. There have been unprecedented achievements but
still there are unforseen barriers that must be removed if the sector has to
grow and contribute to the economic growth of the country and benefit the
common man. A record capacity addition of about 55,000 MW during the eleventh
five year plan, which is almost as much as the total capacity added in the
three earlier Plans put together. He added that, the addition of over 20,500 MW
in 2011-12 was the highest ever annual capacity addition in any year. The
government has achieved a milestone by successfully testing the world’s highest
voltage test station of 1200 KV at Bina in Madhya
Pradesh, the minister said.
Emphasising on the need of providing electricity to all, the
Minister said that the Ministry of
Power has proposed the continuation of "Rajiv
Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran
Yojana" (RGGVY) in the 12th Plan for covering
all remaining villages and habitations irrespective of population; and to
provide free electricity connections to remaining BPL households in order to
achieve the objective of providing access to all rural households. The
successful implementation of the scheme is facing a number of challenges. While
a number of States like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Sikkim,
Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand
have done very well, there is need for closer attention by other States. The
State Governments play an integral role in the successful implementation of the
scheme, particularly in areas such as timely and quality implementation,
regular review and monitoring for resolving implementation related bottlenecks.
The benefits of this RGGVY scheme will only be reaped when the State
Governments provide regular and quality power supply through this modernized
infrastructure to the last mile and finally to every citizen in the country.
He said, restoring the financial health of
the state owned distribution utilities should be the topmost priority of state
governments. The benefit of the huge generation capacity commissioned and under
construction can not reach the consumers if the discoms
are unable to purchase electricity due to their financial condition. He mentioned that some Discoms
are resorting to load shedding even while electricity is available, which
leaves a lot of capacity stranded. It has been noted that in 2012-13 so far,
tariff revision has taken place in 18 states and is under finalization in a few
more. While electricity tariff has to reflect the true cost of service, the
need to minimize AT&C losses is necessary as this would reduce the tariff
burden on the consumer. State governments need to enforce financial discipline
in the operations of Discoms, he said.
The minister
requested that the States specially the 7 focus States, AP, Haryana,
Tamil Nadu, UP & Rajasthan need to take quick
steps to avail of this opportunity. The Central
Government will provide incentive by way of grant that is equal to the value of
the additional energy saved by way of accelerated AT&C loss reduction beyond
the loss trajectory specified under RAPDRP and capital reimbursement support of
25% of principal repayment by the State Government on the liability taken over
by the State Government under the scheme. States will
enact the legislation within twelve months from the date of circulation of
model legislation by Ministry of Power to mandate the compliance of the
provisions of Financial Restructuring Plan(FRP). The
minister said that he was confident that with the support of the state
governments the power sector will be able to usher a paradigm shift of
providing responsible access to electricity for all. Somebody has said that no power is more
costly than costly power. This is not to say that power needs to be priced high
but it surely needs to be priced reasonably to become sustainable , which is
the key to the nation’s development.
Managing the
world’s third largest power transmission system grid is an increasingly complex
task. Hence Grid security assumes highest importance and secure and reliable
operation has to be ensured at all times. It was only a few months ago that we
had to face the great difficulty caused to all by the grid failures in July
2012. We cannot afford a repeat, the minister said. All states must work out
and implement suitable islanding schemes in consultation with the CEA, CTU, RPCs and keep the defence
mechanism in healthy and operating condition. In order to achieve this, all
concerned utilities, statutory bodies, SLDCs,
regulatory bodies and the other associated entities need to work in unison
towards the common goal of secure and reliable grid operation, he added.
The growth of the Power sector is an important
prerequisite for the growth of the national economy and the health of the
distribution sector is an index of the viability of the power sector. With our
joint action and mutual support, the Central government and the State
governments will be able to enthuse buoyancy to the
sector and create a robust framework that restores the confidence of all
stakeholders.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Shri P.Uma Shankar
said that planning power procurement is an important aspect. Absence of long
term planning leads to unplanned procurement at high costs impacting health of Discoms. Fuel supply
will depend on long term PPAs. Transmission will also be affected by the
absence of long term PPAs. It is imperative that power procurement is
planned and bids are called for and finalized at the earliest. With the support
and cooperation of States, the Power sector will remain healthy, secure and
vibrant, he said.
This was the
maiden interaction between Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and state power
ministers to take stock of the financial restructuring of distribution
utilities and other aspects of Power sector. The power ministers from the
states deliberated on the progress made on the implementation of the Centre’s flagship programmes including Rajiv
Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and the Restructured-Accelerated Power
Development and Reform Programme (R-APDRP) etc.
Placed below is the text of resolutions adopted
RESOLUTIONS
6THANNUAL CONFERENCE OF POWER MINISTERS
OF STATES & UNION TERRITORIES
The 6th Conference of Power Ministers of States and UTs held on 5th February 2013 deliberated several
issues related to providing affordable and adequate power to consumers and
making electricity accessible to all the consumers particularly in those
inhabitations that are not connected with the Grid. The State Power Ministers expressed concern
at the situation of fuel uncertainty affecting the power sector and urged
Government of India to augment the availability of coal and gas by increasing
indigenous production and creating a suitable policy framework. It was emphasised that the availability of adequate
coal was most important for sustaining power supply and accelerated capacity
addition in a sector dominated by thermal power. Without availability of coal quantity as
committed by CIL, the Power Sector faces a very bleak and uncertain future, which
was a matter of grave concern for all the stake holders and requires urgent
remedial action. This will affect not
only the value chain of the power sector- generation, transmission &
distribution – but also the exposure of funds given to this Sector by Financial
Institutions. Considering that this had a direct impact on the financial health
of the distribution sector and Governments efforts in achieving the goal of
providing sustainable electricity to all consumers, the State Power Ministers
requested and authorised the Minister of State for Power (I/C), Government of
India to take up the issue of inadequate coal supply with Honourable Prime
Minister for his early intervention.
The Conference unanimously resolved
that the States and Centre would continue to work together to ensure
Electricity for All and adopted the following Resolutions :
Access to Electricity for All
RGGVY
1.
State
Governments would ensure that all RGGVY villages will be energized within 3
months of electrification.
2.
State
Governments would ensure that remaining work of rural electrification already
approved under RGGVY including DDG works will be completed by December
2013.
3.
States
Governments would ensure supply of quality power for a minimum of 6-8 hours
under the RGGVY area.
4.
States will establish a database of all electrified and
un-electrified habitations to enable their being considered for electrification
during 12th Plan. Before proposing such villages under RGGVY, States will
ensure that proper plan is made and resources allocated for creating or
strengthening back-up transmission and distribution system.
RAPDRP
5.
State
Governments would ensure to complete the activity of appointing contracting
agencies for all sanctioned Part-B projects within next 6 months.
6.
States
will accelerate the implementation of RAPDRP so as to integrate all towns under
Part-A by December 2013 and complete at least 60% of sanctioned Part-B works by
March 2014.
7.
State
Governments would ensure that they will take administrative measures to reduce
AT&C loss at least by 3% in next six months in the towns which have been
integrated with Data Center after completion of Part-A of R-APDRP work and
further resolved to reduce AT&C losses by 5% in one year in such towns.
Distribution Sector Reforms
8.
State
Governments would ensure the accounts of the utilities upto
2011-12 are audited and finalised by March 2013 and
that in future the accounts of a financial year are audited by September of the
following financial year as per the Companies Act.
9.
States
would ensure that Discoms file multi-year tariff
petition and that SERCs announce multi-year tariff as
per the National Tariff Policy.
10.
Discoms to prepare a road map for implementing
TOD tariff and metering; submit the same to SERCs
within the next six months and obtain orders for a suitable tariff structure
for encouraging the same.
11.
The State Governments would get a time bound action plan prepared
for computerization of accounts of the Power Utilities, if not already done,
and send the same to the Ministry of Power within three months and would take
up its implementation on priority so as to complete the work of computerization
by March 2014.
12.
The State governments would clear the outstanding subsidies to the
utilities by March 2013 and also ensure that all outstanding electricity bills
of government departments and local bodies funded by the State Government are
paid up to date by March 2013 or release the payment from the State budget
directly.
13.
State
Governments would prepare schemes to take advantage of the National Electricity
Fund launched by Government of India.
Procurement of Power
14.
States will invite bids for procurement of power to meet the
uncovered gap in power demand within the next six months through Case I
bidding.
15.
State
Governments would prepare plans covering generation and transmission
infrastructure for all time horizons and would procure about 90% power of their
requirement under long-term / medium term and only uncertainties would be met
from the short term market.
Planned
and Secure Transmission System
16.
States
resolve to plan, build and strengthen the intra-state transmission and
sub-transmission systems so as to facilitate meeting of the consumer demand.
17.
States
would ensure availability of adequate funds annually so as to complete the
transmission sector state targets set for the year.
18.
All
states would control transmission line flows and avoid overdrawal
thereby ensuring compliance to the Grid Standards and Grid Code by all State
entities. The SLDCs would be directed to closely
monitor this and ensure appropriate action to ensure grid compliance under the
Electricity Act 2003.
19.
State
Governments shall put in place proper defense
plans and protection systems to ensure integrated operation of the
National/Regional Grids. Defense plans of the states must include islanding
schemes, under frequency relays, rate of change of frequency relays, special
protection schemes and automatic demand management schemes for load shedding
for which the
states shall maintain and install required protection systems, system
protection schemes and other equipments for secure grid transmission. The defense plans shall also include restoration
procedures that shall be updated and reviewed regularly.
20.
State
Governments would take all necessary steps for ensuring strengthening of the State
Load Despatch Centres and
capacity building of system operators
Energy Efficiency
initiatives
21.
State
Governments will adopt
the ECBC codes within 2013-14.
22.
State
Governments would create an enabling
environment so that the PAT targets assigned to the State Utilities are
achieved by them by
2014-15.
23.
State
Governments would issue notification making new agricultural pump-sets to be
installed to conform to the energy performance standards of BEE 4 Star rated
product and to introduce mechanism to integrate star rated energy efficient
pump-sets in existing State/Central level pump-sets promotion schemes
operational in the State.
24.
States
will utilize State Energy Conservation Funds (SECF) through innovative
mechanism.
25.
States would set up Demand Management Cells if not already set up
in their DISCOMs to coordinate energy conservation
measures with the State Designated Agency. They further resolved to prepare
action plans for DSM for their States by June 2013.
*****
UM/ AL/ KM