Odisha Govt To Extend Financial Guarantee Support To Gridco

By OB Bureau On Jul 28, 2020

Bhubaneswar: With the revenue gap of Grid Corporation of Odisha (Gridco) widening because of the low demand, the state government on Tuesday decided to extend the necessary financial guarantee support to the company.

At a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, it was revealed that the power demand declined by 14 per cent during March-June, compared to the same period last year because of the lockdown. The captive generation and consumption also came down by 25 per cent in April, 12 per cent in May and 2 per cent in June.

Because of the low demand, the Gridco’s revenue earning has nosedived while it has to pay the fixed charges to power generating plants as per the power purchase agreement. Considering the situation, it was decided to extend the necessary financial guarantee support to Gridco, which conducts transmission and bulk supply of electricity.

Tripathy asked the OPTCL, Gridco and distribution companies to make the power sector self-sustaining through aggressive system reform and reduction in aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses as 1 per cent reduction can lead to around Rs 130 crore revenue gain.

Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra advised the Energy Department to redesign its investment in renewable power sector.

Discoms were asked to achieve at least 98 per cent billing and collection. Besides, OPTCL and Gridco were told to reduce operational cost through adoption of innovative technology-based approaches.