Telangana discoms' losses mount as govt depts fail to clear dues

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy to order judicial probe into power agreements & projects by previous BRS govt.

Hyderabad: As many as 20 government departments in Telangana owe a whopping Rs 28,842.72 crore to the state discoms. Over the years, government departments have not been paying their power consumption charges regularly and the backlog has been growing.

According to the white paper presented in the state assembly by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Thursday, the accumulated losses of discoms as on March 31, 2023 stand at Rs 62,461 cr. These discoms also have a debt of Rs 81,516 cr.

The amount due from lift irrigation projects alone is Rs 14,193 cr. The government's default in paying committed true up charges of Rs 14,928 cr has further affected discom finances, said the white paper.

After lift irrigation projects, the Panchayat Raj Department with Rs 4393.99 cr owes the highest amount among all other departments to the state-owned discoms. Several municipalities owe Rs 1657.81 cr.

Discoms have been facing difficulty in paying power purchase bills due to the default of government in paying the power bills of its own departments to the discoms.

“In these circumstances, merely to keep the power supply going, discoms are resorting to borrowings on a regular basis which have reached unsustainable proportions. There is very limited scope to continue to fund the purchase of power through these means. Discoms are now finding themselves in debt trap due to failure of the government in paying its dues and commitments to the sector,” observed Vikramarka.

At the time of formation of Telangana, the installed generation capacity of TSGENCO was 4365.26 MW. Prior to the formation of the state itself, generation projects have been conceived/ initiated with a capacity of 2,960 MW. The commissioning of these projects after the formation of the state has been critical in providing reliable power supply.

After formation of the state, only one power project of 1,080 MW capacity was conceived and commissioned at Bhadradri Thermal Power Stations (BTPS) with inordinate time and cost overrun using subcritical technology.

Another power project of 4,000 MW in Nalgonda District -Yadadri Thermal Power Station was taken up at a location far from the coal mines leading to avoidable coal transport costs of over Rs 800 cr per annum which are liable to further escalate with time and will be applicable over entire lifetime of the project, said the white paper.

Judicial probe

During the discussion on the white paper on the power sector, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said that the government is ready for a judicial probe into three issues in the energy department.

He said that the previous government entered into an agreement with Chhattisgarh without tenders. "We were thrown out of the house by Marshals for fighting on Chhattisgarh agreement. Official was demoted and posted in the remote area for releasing the facts on Chhattisgarh agreement. The previous government entered an agreement with Chhattisgarh for 1,000 MW power supply. The government is incurring the burden of Rs 1,362 cr due to the agreement. We will order Judicial probe into Chhattisgarh agreement,” he said.

Revanth also said that the previous government signed a deal with an outdated company to establish Yadadri thermal power project. The company used expired sub-critical technology and incurred huge losses to the government. Corruption to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees took place in the Bhadradri Power Project, he added.

“Judicial enquiry will be ordered in the construction of Bhadradri and Yadadri thermal power projects and also corruption in Chhattisgarh agreement. We will constitute a fact-finding committee with all parties on 24-hour power supply,” he said.