Odisha govt to bear entire cost of repair of power infra damages

Reported by Sandeep Pattnaik
Bhubaneswar, May 6:

Odisha Government has given up on its earlier plan under which the four distribution companies [discoms] were to contribute to a corpus meant for funding the renovation and repair of the infrastructure damaged during any natural calamity. It has now decided to be the sole contributor to the fund, a senior official in the Energy department said.power lines

However, discussions are underway for joint contribution to the fund by the state government and SOUTHCO, sources in the energy department revealed.

Earlier the government had proposed that the four distribution companies CESU, NESCO, WESCO and SOUTHCO would contribute to the corpus fund collectively. But Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission [OERC], the power regulator in the state, had rejected the proposal since there would be no tariff hike in 2014-15, the idea is not feasible.

“As there will be no tariff hike this year, hence the discoms are not in a position to contribute to the corpus fund meant for repair and renovation of infrastructure damaged in the event of any natural calamity arising in the state.” OERC observed.

The four discoms had earlier submitted a proposal to the OERC for five paise per unit hike in power tariff, which the commission turned down.

It is to be noted that, the state had inccurred a loss to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore in the cyclone Phailin last year. Around 214 kilometers of 33KV lines were damaged and repair work had to be done in 300 substations, 54 towers, besides 13,000 kilometer long 440 and 220 KV lines.

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