Bhubaneswar: In view of lockdown following outbreak of Covid-19, the power demand in state has reduced by 14 per cent during March-June 2020 as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
The captive power generation and consumption has reduced by 25 per cent in April, 12 per cent in May and 2 per cent in June, official sources said.
Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy has recently reviewed the impact of the pandemic on energy sector.
Because of the reduction in demand, the revenue gap of Gridco has widened. Gridco has to pay the fixed charges to power generating plants as per power purchase agreement. Therefore, the government has decided to extend necessary financial guarantee support to Gridco as power is a critical basic need.
Power distribution companies (discoms) of the state were asked to work out their own ‘way forward’ specifying the deliverables with timeline. Tripathy directed the officials to optimise the use of existing networks, increase metering, billing and collection efficiency. The discoms were directed to achieve at least 98 per cent of the billing and collection capacity during this year.
Chief Secretary directed the officials to focus on reduction of AT& C loss, as reduction of 1 per cent AT &C loss leads to around Rs 130 crore of revenue gain. The percentage of AT & C loss has reduced from 57 per cent to around 29.94 per cent during past 20 years.
Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra advised the department to redesign its investment in renewable power sector keeping in view the low cost availability of renewable energy from interstate market.
