Bhubaneswar: Electricity dues worth Rs 10,266.73 crore have been pending against different types of consumers including industries in all four distribution company areas of Odisha.
This was informed by Energy Minister Pratap Keshari Deb in the State Legislative Assembly on Friday.
In a written reply to a question of Nityanand Gand, the Energy Minister said highest Rs 4578.93 crore electricity dues is pending against the consumers in Tata Power Western Odisha Distribution Ltd (TPWODL) area while Rs 3115.17 crore pending in Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL).
Similarly, electricity dues worth Rs 1782.57 crore pending in Tata Power North Odisha Distribution Limited (TPNODL) and Rs 750.06 crore pending in the Tata Power South Odisha Distribution Limited (TPSODL).
As per the statement of Deb, Rs 7872.95 crore electricity bills were pending against the domestic consumers in the four discom areas, of which highest Rs 3650.14 crore pending in TPWODL area, while Rs 2231.44 crore pending in TPCODL area, Rs 1298.35 crore in TPNODL area and dues worth Rs 693.02 crore pending in TPSODL area.
Similarly, a total electricity duty of Rs 386.04 crore pending against industries and Rs 996.98 crore pending against different commercial establishments.
In another reply to the House, the Energy Minister informed that a total of Rs 739.92 crore electricity duty is pending against closed industrial houses including those who were having captive power plants.
A total of Rs 112.52 crore electricity dues yet to be paid by the closed down captive power plants having a capacity of more than 1 megawatt while Rs 627.40 crore pending against 14,053 industries unit, which are in defunct stage, he added.
Among the closed industrial units, electricity dues of Rs 44 crore pending against Action Ispat & Power Pvt Ltd, Jharsuguda, followed by Rs 26.99 crore pending against Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, and OCL Iron & Steel Ltd (Rs 22.60 crore).
As per an information given by Government of India in Parliament, the four power distribution companies (before Tata Power took over) or power distribution utilities have incurred a loss of Rs 5899 crore in a period of six years (from 2014-15 to 2019-20).
The four discoms—CESU, NESCO, SOUTHCO and WESCO have reported loss to the tune of Rs 882 crore in the year 2014-15, Rs 931 crore in 2015-16, Rs 913 crore in 2015-16, Rs 792 crore in 2016-17, Rs 1539 crore in 2017-18 and Rs 842 crore in 2018-19.
In terms of the company, CESU suffered a heavy loss of Rs 2323 crore during the six years, followed by WESCO which reported a loss of Rs 1464 crore, SOUTHCO (Rs 1284 crore) and NESCO (Rs 827 crore). Now, Tata Power has taken over all discoms in Odisha.
