Discoms owe State over Rs 1500 crore loan

Bhubaneswar, July 29

The power distribution companies (DISCOMs) in Odisha owe over Rs 1500 crore to the State Government, Energy Minister Pratap Keshari Deb informed in the Assembly on Friday.

In a written reply to the query of BJP MLA Ganeshram Singkhuntia in the Odisha Assembly, the Minister informed that after the Electricity Reform in Odisha, the World Bank had provided a loan of Rs 471.27 crores to GRIDCO for the development of electricity distribution infrastructure.

The amount had been transferred to CESCO, WESCO, NESCO, and SOUTHCO after the privatization of the power distribution business.

Out of the said amount, Rs 11.92 crores were paid and Rs 459.34 is outstanding. During the second phase of electricity distribution system reforms, the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission kept it as arrears in the account of the Residual DISCOM. It has been mentioned in the Electricity Regulatory Commission’s carve out order.

Besides, the State Government had paid Rs 54.62 crores as APDRP loan and 564.88 as CAPEX loan to TPCODL, TPWODL, TPSODL, and TPNODL. The DISCOMs have not made any payment to the government and now the total outstanding amount is Rs 1508 crores.