Improvement in the energy situation of the country has been a significant part of the government’s mantra for the coming elections. But in a hurry to present the next budget, it seems that there have been quite a few slips in the preparation of the annual performance of the power sector.
That the government has made concerted efforts to increase the power-generation installed capacity cannot be denied. And that it has made efforts to reduce the reliance on expensive furnace oil is also commendable. The latest economic survey shows that during the (almost) five years of its tenure (2013-2018), the government has added 39 projects with cumulative capacity of 12,230 MW with around 7,125 MW in 2016-17 and 2,529 MW in 2017-18 so far.
However, at another place the survey reveals, “Up till Feb 2018, installed capacity of electricity reached 29,573 MW, which was 22,812 MW in 2012-13, thus, posting a growth of 30 percent.” Now according to this, the increase in installed capacity has been around 6,761 MW. What accounts for the difference is little known, even if accounted for a closure of few units here and there. The overall growth figure of one of the most important industrial sub-sectors – electricity generation and distribution, and gas distribution – was recorded at just 1.84 percent. Last year, i.e. FY17, the sector recorded a growth of just 5.8 percent; while in FY16, it recorded a healthy growth of over 9 percent year-on-year.
What is of concern here is that even after the increase in power sector’s installed capacity over the last few years, the electricity generation during July-February FY18 has remained almost static on a year-on-year comparison; it was 69,956 GW/h compared to 68,592 GW/h last year showing a growth of only 2 percent, as per the survey. Is it the running conditions and efficiency of the plants; the rising circular debt, or misrepresentation of the facts? It is best to say that the situation at least raises some questions.
While there is little focus on sharing the distribution and transmission performance (again), one is also forced to question the reliability of the data as well on what the government calls improvement. Yes, there have been improvements; recoveries have gone up, but have T&D losses improved? The government boasts about consistently bringing down the transmission and distribution losses to stand at 16.8 percent during July-March FY18 regardless of some anomalies.
However, the Economic Survey of 2016-17 had mentioned that the distribution losses declined to 16.3 percent in July-March FY17. That sure counts as an improvement! Plus, the receivables have mounted to dangerous levels yet again, but the survey remains silent on circular debt – completely!
Not that the numbers shared by the economic survey have been plenty regarding the power sector in the previous years; the government, this time around, has revealed figures for the eight-month period (July-February) with no number for similar period last year in many cases – yet another glitch in making comparative analysis even more tedious!
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