Discoms suffered a staggering loss of Rs 6K crore, courtesy KCR govt?

Hyderabad: The BRS government, led by K Chandrashekar Rao, caused huge losses to the Telangana Discoms of over Rs 6,000 crore through the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) entered with Chhattisgarh.

According to official sources, the Discoms lost more than what was expected with Chhattisgarh power. As per the agreements, the price of one unit is only Rs 3.90, but the purchase of electricity has left the State power companies high and dry.

The total power purchased from Chhattisgarh was 17,996 million units. The total payments made to the State so far were Rs 7,719 crore, and the dues to be paid to Chhattisgarh were Rs 1,081 crore. The transmission line charges were Rs 1,362 crore, and if all these were calculated, the cost per unit would come to Rs 5.64. In the calculation, there is an additional burden of about Rs 3,110 crore because of the increase in charges in addition to the contract rate.

The dispute between the two States on arrears is still unresolved. Telangana says only Rs 1,081 crore was due; the Chhattisgarh companies show Rs 1,715 crore as outstanding. The Chhattisgarh Electricity Appellate Tribunal has filed a complaint over the dues dispute.

Chhattisgarh electricity has been available since the end of 2017. There has been limited supply since the beginning; there have never been instances of 1,000 MWs coming together smoothly. The Telangana Discoms had to buy power in the open market as the expected supply from there decreased. With this, the additional burden from 2017 to 2022 was Rs 2,083 crore.

The electricity supply was stopped in April 2022. On the other hand, to bring electricity from Chhattisgarh, Telangana had to book a corridor for 1,000 MW with the Power Grid Corporation (PGCIL).

The corridor was also covered by power companies. According to the agreement, PGCIL has to pay the supply charges regardless of whether the electricity is procured or not. Even if this calculation is considered, the additional charges incurred were Rs 638 crore.

In addition to this, there was an additional loss due to the booking of corridors by the previous government. While only a 1,000-MW corridor was sufficient, booking in advance for the supply of another 1,000-MW was unnecessary.

Chhattisgarh had cancelled the corridor half-way as there was no possibility of getting electricity. In the meantime, enough damage was done. The PGCIL issued notices to the Discoms to pay Rs 261 crore as compensation. This problem has arisen due to making of the corridor agreement without understanding.

The Telangana ERC has not yet given its approval to the power purchase agreement. There are also arguments that thousands of crores paid to Chhattisgarh without the ERC's approval should be treated as indirect payments.