In June, when the State government had submitted its views to the Union Ministry of Power on the direct benefit transfer (DBT) of power subsidy proposed in the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020, it said a cautious approach is needed to roll it out as it has potential to create “social unrest”. What did the government mean by social unrest? “The ongoing apprehensions regarding DBT and metering,” said Energy secretary and CMD of APTRANSCO Srikant Nagulapalli, who had anticipated the furore when he sent the letter to the ministry. Even as the YSR Free Agriculture Power Scheme has triggered a political slugfest and apprehensions among farmers, the secretary, allaying the fears, tells TNIE why it is important to adopt the reform, which would empower farmers and make the system efficient.
The State government has decided to go for metering of 17.55 lakh agriculture connections. Has any cost-to-benefit analysis been done?
We have left the metering part to the distribution companies. They have done the analysis. If it is conventional meters, it involves spot reading and manpower. If it is a smart meter, that issue won’t be there, and we can also know in real time the pattern of consumption. This data will help in easy integration of renewable power from the solar power plants. Each conventional meter costs around Rs 2,500 and the smart meter around Rs 3,800 to Rs 4,000. We will know the actual cost when we invite the tenders. The Discoms will take a call on which meter to fix.
The scheme is set to be launched in Srikakulam this month, but the meters aren’t ready. How is the department planning to go about it?
Meters are not available, but we have feeders in place. The Discom knows the capacity, who its consumers are, and the consumption.
If it can be implemented without meters now, why metering?
We will only know the average consumption without meters. But, to know absolute consumption, we will need meters. The objective of the scheme is to let the farmers know their consumption and the subsidy being given to them. It is a part of a reform process. The government will deposit the subsidy into the accounts of farmers, who will in turn pay the Discoms. This will create a responsible channel as farmers will know the amount they are paying to the Discoms, enabling them to seek accountability. About 12,200 million units of energy is being used annually by agriculture connections. A major apprehension has been that transmission losses are being added to the subsidy amount, which is being borne by the government. While there are 25 lakh agriculture connections in Telangana, we have about 18 lakh. Telangana hardly spends Rs 6,000 crore towards subsidy, but our expenditure is Rs 8,353 crore. Despite more connections, Telangana is spending less on subsidy. Hence, metering will enable us know the actual consumption. Then it will be inevitable for the Discoms to plug all gaps. Their efficiency will increase. Ultimately, the system has to be streamlined. The cost of service has doubled to Rs 48,000 crore in 2018-19 from Rs 24,000 crore in 2014-15. It is public money that is being spent as subsidy. So, there should be responsibility.
In your letter to the Union Ministry of power regarding the Electricity (Amendment) Bill-2020, you mentioned that DBT may create social unrest. Unrest in what sense?
The ongoing issues is what we meant. Most of the States including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, UP, West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka and others already have meters. AP is only among the very few states which don’t have meters.
There is an argument that installing meters at feeders would serve the purpose instead of installing meters for all connections.
The problem with installing meters at feeders is that feeders are long, about 10-20 kms. There will be residences and other structures en route. Besides, most feeders are not exclusive for agriculture. So, if we install meters at feeders, we wouldn’t know the exact consumption. Line losses would be added to it and other practical problems are there. We wouldn’t know if there are any other connections drawn along the way. Accountability can’t be fixed. Therefore, meter should be present at the delivery point. The benefit should reach the right person. There should not be any leakage.
When will the initiative be rolled out in Srikakulam?
We are designing the action plan. There are about 31,000 connections. The Discom has IRDA meters (conventional) with it. So, we left the choice to the Discom. The plan is to finish the exercise before December. We are planning to start reaching out to farmers to clear their apprehensions. It will shortly begin.