State discoms put up top show

Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 18

After being in the red for years, Haryana’s power distribution companies’ upward spiral seems to be holding on three years after it began.

The scores of the eighth Annual Integrated Rating of State Power Distribution Companies which are out show a jump of 11 to 18 points by the state’s two distribution companies (discoms) which are now in the league of “top performers” in the country.

In the ratings based on audited accounts of financial year 2018-19 and the various rating inputs, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has secured a place in the ‘A category’ while the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has earned “A+” in the report based on the methodology approved by the Ministry of Power, Government of India.

This third party rating exercise acknowledged the “good work” being done by Haryana on the basis of profitability, reduced lines losses, use of technology and financial and operational health of the discoms.

The UHBVN which essentially has domestic and agrarian consumers has upped its performance from 65.5 points to 76.7 points to consolidate its position. The DHBVN, with larger share of industrial consumers, has scored 86.2 points in financial year 2018-19 to make it to the “A+” category this year up from the “A category” which it secured in the last financial year with a score of 72.9 points out of 100.

Though the state grading will be declared subsequently, the Power Department is hoping the two discoms will be among the top 10 in the country based on their scores. While UHBVN was placed at 16th position, the DHBVN was at 11th position in the seventh Annual Integrated Report of the ministry. The two discoms were placed at 24th and 22nd position in 2015-16.

Sources in the department attribute the turnaround in the fortunes of the two discoms to the strong political will of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the “free hand” given by him to the officers.

Right through his first term and also his second term in government, he has publicly exhorted consumers to pay their bills on time. This is in contrast to his predecessors who focussed on waivers.

Further, the CM’s “experiment” to post 1990-batch IPS officer Shatrujeet Kapur as Chairman and Managing Director of the two discoms seems to have borne fruit with the discoms achieving a financial turnaround two years ahead of the March 2020 target by not only ending the loss run but earning profit for two consecutive years. In financial year 2018-19, the discoms netted a profit of Rs 280.94 crore.

The Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses in the state are also down from nearly 34 per cent to just over 21 per cent for UHBVN against a target of 20.8 per cent in 2018-19 while these have reduced from nearly 27 per cent in 2015-16 to 14.86 for DHBVN surpassing the target of 15 per cent.

The total losses in the state for 2018-19 are down to 17.45 per cent against a target of 17.47, underlining the impressive performance and improved health of the discoms.

Sources maintain that the rankings for the two discoms are likely to be out by the end of the financial year.