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The very fact that it took more than 70 years post-independence for electricity to reach every village speaks volumes about the mess the sector has been in. Forget villages, even metro cities,
and most state capitals still have to face load shedding. The entire problem in the power sector can be summed up in three words - vote bank politics. Politicians of all
stripes have refrained from increasing tariff for fear of upsetting their vote banks. Besides this, blatant theft of power, at times under the patronage of political parties, is at the root
cause of the problems in the power sector. Many schemes launched by various governments failed to achieve their desired goal because none of them dared to go anywhere close to the
root cause. Ultimately it was the taxpayer who had to foot the bill of the huge bailouts. This, however, changed in November 2015 when the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme
for reviving the discoms was launched in November 2015. At the time of the launch, the combined annual (FY16) losses of these entities were a staggering Rs 52,000 crore. Apart from
Gujarat, almost every state electricity board in the country was making losses. Reports now say that electricity distribution companies (discoms) in four states -Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh - are
now profitable. These four states now have a combined profit of Rs 1,565.5 crore in FY18 compared with an aggregate loss of Rs 10,203 crore in FY17 by these states. One
of the biggest reason that these SEBs have been able to show profits is that the debt has been taken away from the books of these companies. As per the UDAY
scheme, state governments were expected to-take the debt off the books of the discoms and merge it with its own budget. But credit has to be given where it is due.
and most state capitals still have to face load shedding. The entire problem in the power sector can be summed up in three words - vote bank politics. Politicians of all
stripes have refrained from increasing tariff for fear of upsetting their vote banks. Besides this, blatant theft of power, at times under the patronage of political parties, is at the root
cause of the problems in the power sector. Many schemes launched by various governments failed to achieve their desired goal because none of them dared to go anywhere close to the
root cause. Ultimately it was the taxpayer who had to foot the bill of the huge bailouts. This, however, changed in November 2015 when the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme
for reviving the discoms was launched in November 2015. At the time of the launch, the combined annual (FY16) losses of these entities were a staggering Rs 52,000 crore. Apart from
Gujarat, almost every state electricity board in the country was making losses. Reports now say that electricity distribution companies (discoms) in four states -Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh - are
now profitable. These four states now have a combined profit of Rs 1,565.5 crore in FY18 compared with an aggregate loss of Rs 10,203 crore in FY17 by these states. One
of the biggest reason that these SEBs have been able to show profits is that the debt has been taken away from the books of these companies. As per the UDAY
scheme, state governments were expected to-take the debt off the books of the discoms and merge it with its own budget. But credit has to be given where it is due.
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