Gulbarga Electrical energy Provide Firm Restricted (GESCOM) submitted its Annual Efficiency Evaluate (APR) for 2022-23 to the Karnataka Electrical energy Regulatory Fee (KERC) in November final yr and sought the latter’s permission to hike energy tariffs by 163 paise per unit throughout all class of shoppers for 2024-25 to fill the expenditure-revenue hole of ₹1592.40 crore anticipated for the yr.
The GESCOM’s transfer has, nevertheless, triggered discontentment amongst energy shoppers. As a substitute of gathering the vitality subsidies and Ganga Kalyan dues from the federal government and the government-owned companies, they allege, the GESCOM is solely transferring the monetary burden to shoppers who sincerely pay their energy payments.
As per the data collected by The Hindu, the federal government is but to pay ₹1400.44 crore vitality subsidy dues to GESCOM for supplying the facility to farmers’ irrigation pump units.
By the tip of the monetary yr 2021-22, the federal government’s vitality subsidy dues payable to GESCOM grew to ₹3,604.09 crore (dues of ₹1206.62 crore accrued from earlier years plus the present yr’s declare of ₹2397.47 crore). The federal government launched ₹3135.17 crore bringing down the dues to ₹468.92 crore in a single shot.
Subsequent yr, the subsidy dues once more grew to ₹734.28 crore as the federal government launched solely ₹2436.47 crore, which was even lower than the present yr’s prices of ₹2701.84 crore. In 2023-24, (until December 2023), the dues swelled to ₹1400 crore as the federal government paid solely ₹2494.38 crore towards the present interval’s prices of ₹3160.53 crore plus pending dues of ₹734.28 crore.
The identical is the case with the subsidies beneath Ganga Kalyan, the scheme launched to offer irrigation by means of the exploitation of groundwater. The GESCOM put in place the required infrastructure comparable to laying energy provide strains for the scheme being carried out by completely different state-owned improvement companies however is paid partially for the work.
The Ganga Kalyan dues that stood at ₹1.015 crore in 2002-03 have now swelled to ₹567.452 crore due to the partial funds being made by the State-owned companies.
Apparently, the GESCOM has by no means claimed the curiosity on the pending dues nor has the KERC ever appeared to trouble about it. This additionally irked the facility shoppers as they had been compelled to pay the curiosity on delayed cost of their energy payments.
If calculated at simply 12% each year, the GESCOM should obtain a further ₹1821.75 crore from the federal government because the curiosity for the vitality subsidy dues for supplying energy to irrigation pump units and ₹411.353 crore from completely different State-owned improvement companies as curiosity for implementing the Ganga Kalyan scheme. The excellent dues for supplying energy to irrigation pump units then develop to ₹3222.18 crore and subsidy dues beneath Ganga Kalyana to ₹922.725 crores. The GESCOM’s gross dues receivable from the federal government and the State-owned companies will then cross the ₹4,000 crore mark.
As specialists put it, there isn’t any provision within the Electrical energy Act 2003 to exempt the federal government or government-owned companies from paying the curiosity on dues. They demand the GESCOM declare and accumulate the curiosity from the federal government and its companies simply because it does within the case of frequent energy shoppers.
Deepak Gala, an activist and energy skilled, factors to the 2018 tariff order issued by the Punjab State Electrical energy Regulatory Fee which requested the Punjab State Energy Company Restricted to pay the curiosity on pending dues to the facility supplying firm.
“Just as it levies interest on the dues of its power consumers and pays interest to the loans it borrows from the financial institutions, the GESCOM must claim and collect both the dues and interest on the dues. It is KERC’s responsibility to ensure that the interest on subsidy dues is paid to GESCOM. If all the dues and the interest on dues payable to it are collected, the GESCOM can reduce the power tariff and sell it for much cheaper rates, let alone hiking the rates,” Mr. Gala advised The Hindu.