NE NEWS SERVICE
AMARAVATI, DECEMBER 9
The Cabinet Sub-Committee appointed to probe into the Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) signed during the previous TDP regime will submit its report to the government soon, said Finance Minister Bugganna Rajendranath here on Monday.
While speaking at the question hour, the minister said that the panel is studying all aspects, as it was done in a hurry at the fag-end of TDP government leaving huge fiscal burden on the state exchequer.
In a matter of just 15 days, 41 PPAs were signed and the terms were heavily loaded in favour of the corporates and there was every need to renegotiate the terms, he said adding that the Government plans to come out with a detailed report which is time-consuming.
Asserting that there has been no timeline fixed for the Committee, the minister said that all the data will be acquired and the report will be submitted soon. The Centre has written a letter to take action against irregularities in the PPAs.
The dues of discoms have increased Rs 9,000 crore in 2014 to Rs 29,000 crore in 2019 during the previous TDP term and we have cleared dues of Rs 4,900 crore of the previous government, the Finance Minister said.
He made it clear that though wind and solar energy are good to maintain ecological balance, they are right now not financially viable.
The minister said that the cost of energy production through renewable energy sources would cost at least Rs 4.84 a unit. But the thermal energy costs only Rs 3 per unit. So the difference is Rs 2 per unit. Under these circumstances the discoms had made it clear that they would not be able to take wind or solar (renewable) energy.
There will be a fixed cost for the use of thermal power. It means that even if thermal power is not utilized, an amount of Rs 1.50 per unit has to be paid for coal which results hikes in the price. Considering all these in mind, the government has decided to review the PPAs, the minister added.
In fact, the previous government had to pay arrears to the discoms. Similarly, while the discoms suffered a loss of Rs 9,000 crore in 2014-15 and it had reached Rs 29,000 crore in 2018-19. So, it amounts to increasing the losses to the discoms to Rs 20,000 crore in five years.
The Central government had clearly mentioned that action should be initiated if any irregularity was noticed. The previous TDP government had also owed a lot to power companies. While it owed Rs 3,910 crore in 2014-15 to power companies, the burden has increased to Rs 21,540 crore by 2018-19. All the arrears are being cleared by the present government, the minister added.
