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					</table><p>Union Minister for <a href="https://powermin.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Power</a> and <a href="https://mnre.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New &amp; Renewable Energy</a> R K Singh has warned distribution companies (DISCOM) that unjustified load-shedding will be penalized going forward, calling the practice of cutting off electricity supply to different regions “an insult to the people.”</p>
<p>“We have said that consumers have rights to 24*7 electricity and that if there is any gratuitous load-shedding, then penalties have to be levied, and compensation has to be given,” he said at a review meeting of the power sector.</p>
<p>Singh urged DISCOMs to add capacity, sign power purchase agreements, and increase efficiency. “In 2030, our peak demand is going to go up from 243 GW today to 366 GW. Our established capacity has to go up to 900 GW from about 427 GW today,” he said.</p>
<p>Singh also pointed out that while billing efficiency has gone up, collection efficiency remains stuck at 92.7%.</p>
<p>Another area of concern, according to the minister, was the gap between the Average Cost of Supply (ACS) and the Average Revenue Realized (ARR), which increased by ₹0.15 (~$0.0018) to around ₹0.45 (~$0.0054).</p>
<p>The minister asked the states to adhere to laws and rules to ensure the viability of the power sector. “Otherwise, you will not get any power from the Centre, you will not get any loan from <a href="https://www.pfcindia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PFC</a> (Power Finance Corporation) or <a href="https://recindia.nic.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">REC</a> (Rural Electrification Corporation). If there is any instance of tariff not being up-to-date, tariff not being cost-reflective, or subsidy not being paid, requisite action under the law will be taken.”</p>
<p>Union power secretary Pankaj Agarwal highlighted that some DISCOMs were still lacking in taking up loss reduction works under the Revamped Distribution Sector program. He said that if a DISCOM fails to fully utilize the budgetary support released to it, the unutilized funds will be given to other “progressive” DISCOMs.</p>
<p>The program was introduced to help DISCOMs improve their operational efficiencies and financial sustainability by providing result-linked financial assistance to DISCOMs who achieve the basic minimum benchmarks and meet the pre-qualifying criteria.</p>
<p>As of December last year, DISCOMs owed power generators ₹655.95 billion (~$7.89 billion) in total dues for the monthly billing cycle.</p>
<p>Last month, the Ministry of Power <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/ministry-to-regulate-discoms-failing-to-clear-dues" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> regulating short-term and general network access (GNA) for DISCOMs that fail to clear their dues even after two and a half months.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the ministry said Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses of DISCOMs have <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/discoms-atc-losses-drop-15-41-fy23" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduced</a> from 27% in 2015-16 to 15.41%.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/staff/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Staff</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"></div></div><div class="clearfix"></div></div></div>

Unjustified Load-Shedding Will Attract Penalties, R K Singh Warns DISCOMs

<p>The Minister for Power R.K. Singh has said that the government will soon approve the Power Tariff Policy which would impose a penalty for unscheduled power cuts by distribution companies.</p>
<p>The policy is expected to come into effect from April 1, 2019.</p>
<p>News agency PTI quoted Singh as saying, “The proposal for tariff policy is ready and will soon go for the cabinet’s approval. The policy provides for penalty for unscheduled power cuts except in the case of technical faults or act of God (natural calamities).”</p>
<p>Singh also informed that state power regulators would ascertain the penalty on distribution companies for voluntary load shedding.</p>
<p>The proposal to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/government-impose-penalty-discoms-power-cuts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">penalize</a> distribution companies has been doing the rounds for years now, though little progress has been made in the matter.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/india-crack-discom-load-shedding/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">For instance, back in December 2017</a>, in an effort to ensure reliable electricity services for all Indians, Singh had announced a plan to penalize distribution companies if they indulge in gratuitous load-shedding. There was consensus among states to bring down DISCOM losses to below 15 percent by end of March 2019.</p>
<p>In a similar vein, back in <a href="https://mercomindia.com/delhi-compensation-unscheduled-power-cuts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">April 2018</a>, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal, had approved the proposal put forward by the Aam Aadmi Party government regarding compensation for residents in case of unscheduled power cuts. The proposal entailed an hourly compensation of ₹100 (~$1.519) for unscheduled outages by distribution companies in the national capital. The compensation earned by consumers was to be adjusted against their monthly power bill.</p>
<p>If this policy is finalized and brought into action, it will be a tremendous relief to millions of consumers and to power generators. However, load shedding tends to get better in most states around election time and hopefully this is a more permanent solution.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/saumy/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Saumy Prateek</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/saumy-edited-1.png" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Saumy Prateek</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/saumy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Saumy Prateek</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/saumy-edited-1.png" width="79" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/saumy/" rel="noopener"><strong>Saumy Prateek, </strong> </a>is a senior staff reporter with MercomIndia.com covering business and energy news since 2016. Prior to Mercom, Saumy was a copy editor at Thomson Reuters. Saumy earned his Bachelors Degree in Journalism &amp; Mass Communication from the Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/saumy/">More articles from Saumy Prateek.</a></div>
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Unscheduled Power Cuts by DISCOMs Will Soon be Penalized, Says R.K. Singh

<p>According the Power Minister R.K. Singh, the Indian government is planning to bring a single bid for setting up 25 GW of solar capacity in Ladakh, reported by PTI. This comes across as a highly ambitious plan considering only 24 GW of solar has been installed in the whole country since 2009.</p>
<p>Speaking at the CII&#8217;s Government and Business Partnership Conclave, Singh said, “We have 35 GW of installation potential in Ladakh. We will come out with single bid of 25 GW with storage and delivery at Una.”</p>
<p>He added, “We have released a 10 GW solar bid with a manufacturing component. We will deploy more such bids to ensure manufacturing comes to India.”</p>
<p>The minister said that 16 GW of renewable projects are at various stages of development, with about 28 GW of bid – totalling 116 GW. This indicates India will achieve its target of 175 GW of renewable energy before 2022.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/future-solar-bids-manufacturing-component/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mercom reported</a>  recently that this seems unlikely. In the next four years, India needs to install 100 GW of renewable energy capacity to meet the target of 175 GW renewables by 2022. Out of the remaining 100 GW, solar needs to account for 78 GW of power addition.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/india-solar-project-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker</a>, just over 24 GW of solar PV projects have been installed across the country, and these include both rooftop as well as ground-mounted solar PV projects.</p>
<p>India’s installed wind power capacity stands at 34 GW, while the goal to achieve 60 GW by 2022.</p>
<p>The government is also discussing having a storage component as part of future renewable bids.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/seci-tender-3-mw-solar-battery-energy-storage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Earlier</a>, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) issued a tender for the development of two 1.5 MW (AC) solar power projects with Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at Tangtse and Durbuk in the Leh district of Jammu &amp; Kashmir.</p>
<p>The government is also considering a tariff policy to penalize DISCOMS for unscheduled load shedding. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/government-impose-penalty-discoms-power-cuts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mercom has reported that</a> Singh recently apprised the Lower House of Parliament through a written reply that said, “There is a provision for imposing penalties on DISCOMs for power cuts not caused by technical faults in the proposed draft amendments to the National Tariff Policy, 2016. The draft amendments are currently under inter-ministerial consultations.”</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/nitin/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Nitin Kabeer</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft wp-image-9822" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/nitin-2.png" alt="" width="99" height="105" /><span style="font-family: Calibri"><span style="color: #000000"><span>Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism &amp; Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/nitin/">More articles from Nitin Kabeer</a></span></span></span></p>
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Government Plans to Set up 25 GW Solar Capacity in Ladakh

<p>Soon, distribution companies (DISCOMs) might have to pay a penalty for load shedding other than unforeseeable conditions or technical faults.</p>
<p>R.K. Singh, the Minister of Power, apprised the Lower House of Parliament in a written reply that the government is currently mulling the imposition of penalties on DISCOMs for such cases.</p>
<p>“There is a provision for imposing penalties on DISCOMs for power cuts not caused by technical faults in the proposed draft amendments to the National Tariff Policy, 2016. The draft amendments are currently under inter-ministerial consultations,” Singh said.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://mercomindia.com/delhi-compensation-unscheduled-power-cuts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">line with this</a>, the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi, Anil Baijal, recently approved the proposal put forward by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government regarding compensation for residents in case of unscheduled power cuts. The proposal entails an hourly compensation for unscheduled outages by DISCOMs in the national capital. The compensation earned by consumers will be adjusted against their monthly power bills.</p>
<p>In the first week of the monsoon session, MPs also asked the minister about the steps being taken by the government to provide 24&#215;7 power to every citizen of the country. The minister responded that electricity falls under the concurrent list and providing 24&#215;7 electricity to all the consumers is the primary responsibility of concerned state governments and respective DISCOMs.</p>
<p>“All the state governments and union territories have signed the “24&#215;7 Power for All” to provide electricity to all from April 1, 2019. To achieve this target, the central government is helping through various schemes like Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), <a href="https://www.uday.gov.in/home.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ujwal Discoms Assurance Yojana</a> (UDAY), and Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA),” Singh said.</p>
<p>In an effort to encourage the DISCOMs to achieve aggressive <a href="https://mercomindia.com/top-discoms-saubhagya-could-be-rewarded-%E2%82%B9500-mn/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">targets</a>, the Ministry of Power (MoP) is also thinking of providing incentives to distribution companies (DISCOMs) and its employees who meet the household electrification target under the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/solar-power-packs-electrify-remote-areas-new-government-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SAUBHAGYA</a> program at the earliest. A reward of ₹5 million (~$ 0.073 million) for employees of the state utilities and a grant of ₹500 million (~$7.28 million) for DISCOMs are being considered by the ministry.</p>
<p>Image credit: James Rock</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/nitin/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Nitin Kabeer</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft wp-image-9822" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/nitin-2.png" alt="" width="99" height="105" /><span style="font-family: Calibri"><span style="color: #000000"><span>Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism &amp; Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/nitin/">More articles from Nitin Kabeer</a></span></span></span></p>
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