Free Electricity May Lead To Sri Lanka-Like Situation In Odisha, Says Minister

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Energy Minister Pratap Dev on Friday said though electricity is a basic requirement of the people, free power supply will lead to Sri Lanka-like situation in the state.

Participating in a discussion on notice for admissibility of adjournment motion on power tariff in the Assembly, the minister said the government has been taking all possible steps to streamline the distribution network and ease the burden on the consumers.

Speaking on the notice, senior Congress leader Santosh Singh Saluja said the government has failed to bring down the losses due to transmission of the power supply. “The TPODL, which was tasked to take steps in this regard, has not succeeded in its efforts. The losses sustained by the distribution companies is being passed on to the consumers thereby increasing the power bills, he added.

“It is unfortunate that despite being a power-surplus state, Odisha has been steadily increasing the tariff. In order to ease the burden on the consumers, the government should provide free electricity upto 200 units to the consumers,” Singh said.

The chief whip of main opposition BJP, Mohan Majhi, alleged that the government has sacrificed the interests of the consumers for the benefits of the distribution company. “Due to poor management of power distribution on the part of the government, the consumers of the energy-surplus Odisha are forced to pay hefty electricity bills. The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has failed to carry out its duty of protecting the interests of the consumers,” he said.

Stating that Odisha consumers were paying Rs 5.22 per unit compared to national average of Rs 5.11 per unit, Majhi said the government was not taking adequate steps to promote non-conventional energy sources.

Refuting the Opposition’s allegations, Minister Pratap Dev said those are not based on facts. With the increase in electricity production, the demand has also gone up.

Giving detailed figures, the minister said, “Compared to power connection to 28% of households in 2000, now 97% of households are getting the electricity supply. While there were 16 lakh power consumers in 2000, their number has gone up to 98 lakh in 2023.”

Besides, the demand for electricity has gone up from 10,000 million units in 2000 to 27,400 million units in 2023, he said adding that peak hour demand now stands at 5,200 million units. Similarly, power transmission loss has been brought down from 57% in 2000 to 26% in 2023, he added.

Dismissing the Opposition demand for free electricity, the Minister said, “Air, water and electricity are basic needs of a person. But our experience shows that providing free electricity could lead to crisis situation like Sri Lanka.”