Expressing its determination to continue the free power schemes for farmers and 100 units free of charge for all domestic consumers in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister K Palaniswami urged the Center on Wednesday to keep them outside the scope of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system. This was conveyed to the Minister of State for Power of the Union, R K Singh, during a meeting with him at the Secretariat here.
The Chief Minister said the government’s consistent policy was that farmers should be given free power and that it needs to be continued.
“Therefore, the DBT principle should not be applied for the agricultural sector. Further, the Tamil Nadu government has been providing 100 units free for all domestic consumers, for which we provide subsidy to TANGEDCO. This scheme may also be kept outside the scope of the DBT system,” he said.
The Center has approved the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020 and plans to extend DBT to the power sector in order to make subsidies more targeted to the poorer sections of society.
The Power Ministry has proposed the introduction of DBT in the sector, in which the electricity tariffs will be determined by the Commissions without taking into account the subsidies which will be granted directly by the Government to the intended consumers.
In a letter to Singh, the Chief Minister stated that the subsidies granted by the State Government to the agricultural sector and domestic consumers would be granted directly to the state-run TANGEDCO and that the Distribution Licenses would be properly assessed with the approval of the State Commission.
Subsidies to the utility are also provided in advance in Tamil Nadu.
“Hence the mode of payment of subsidy may be left to the consideration of the state government,” he said in the letter, a copy of which was made available to the media.
He argued that the provisions of the draft amendment bill, 2020 allowing private franchisor / sublicensee, would only lead to the cerise collection of remunerative areas by the franchisor / sub-distribution licensee directly affecting the DISCOMs and thus to the public interest.
State discomfort will remain in the service of social sector obligations and rural areas, which will result in massive discomfort losses, Palaniswami said.
Tamil Nadu has already submitted his comments on the draft bill for 2020, raising a number of issues of major concern that are detrimental to the state and its utilities, he said.
Tamil Nadu has the most diversified power generation portfolio in India, with renewables alone accounting for 49.47 percent of installed capacity.
“I would like to recall the tireless efforts of our late Chief Minister, Puratchi Thalaivi Amma (J Jayalalithaa), which made Tamil Nadu a surplus state of power,” he said.
Since 2011, Tamil Nadu has added a massive capacity of 15,410 MW by commissioning new power stations, entering into medium-and long-term power purchase agreements and adding renewable energy sources.
Due to tremendous efforts to ensure reliable and affordable availability of energy for all-round growth, Tamil Nadu is today a power surplus state, Palaniswami said.
He proposed fixing the Renewable Purchase Obligation for Total Renewable Energy rather than individually fixing individual grid linked pump sets for wind, non-nuclear, hydro and solar energy, with a 100 per cent grant from the Ministry under the PM-KUSUM scheme instead of separating and solarizing agricultural feeders.
Separation of agricultural feeders would be a costly proposal and would also cause unrest among farmers, he said.
Hailing the Center’s Rs 90,000 Crore Liquidity Infusion Program to DISCOMs to clear Generator and Transmission Company Duties, he urged the Union Government to relax UDAY labor capital requirements as there is no headroom available for TANGEDCO.
He demanded early disbursement of the Rs 20,622 crore financial assistance demanded by TANGEDCO.
Apart from restoring the existing linkage quantity of 20,445 million tons per annum coal, which was reduced by Coal India Limited to 18,791 MTPA, Palaniswami asked the union minister to consider improving the linkages allocated to North Chennai TPS II (2X600MW) and Mettur TPS II (1X600MW) to 6,62 MTPA and 3,31 MTPA respectively.
Coal India may be directed to supply coal at the point of consumption of thermal plants to the benefit of consumers by reducing the cost of electricity, he said.
Environmental clearance should be granted to TANGEDCO for the exploration of the Chandrabila coal block allocated to it, the long-term coal connection for the upcoming North Chennai Stage-III STPP (1 x 800 MW) and Uppur STPP (2 x 800 MW) to 5,913 MTPA, to TANGEDCO for the extraction of coal from the Talcher area.
Statement of RaigarhPugalur-Thrissur HVDC transmission corridor as strategic and national importance similar to Biswanath / Chariali (North Eastern Region) Agra (Northern Region) HVDC transmission network were his other requirements.
