The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has expressed concern over the methodology of computation of electricity consumption by the agricultural sector, which enjoys free power supply.
Working out that the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) suffered a revenue shortfall of Rs. 11,020.42 crore over the supply to the agricultural sector, the CAG, whose report on government undertakings for the year ending March 31, 2011 was placed in the Assembly on Wednesday, said that this was due to claiming subsidy based on the connected load of service connections instead of actual consumption of energy by agricultural consumers.
The financial position of TANGEDCO was grave, despite the subsidy support from the government.
On the basis of agricultural services' consumption computed by TANGEDCO, the office of the CAG arrived at the quantum of free electricity supplied between 2007-2008 and 2010-2011.
As per the CAG's calculations, the sector had consumed 40,442 million units (MU) in the four years.
Taking into account the average revenue realisation per unit, which then ranged from Rs. 2.90 to Rs. 3.14, the Corporation should have received a total subsidy of Rs. 12,063.24 crore, whereas it got Rs. 1,042.82 crore, which was provided at a rate of Rs. 250 per horsepower of farm pump sets per annum.
“Had the Company [TANGEDCO] provided meters to 100 per cent of the agricultural services, it could have preferred a claim for the difference in tariff between average cost of realisation and the specified tariff applicable to agricultural consumers as subsidy by filing Aggregate Revenue Requirement annually,” the report said.
As of now, the State has 20.09 lakh consumers in the category of agriculture, enjoying free power supply. In the latest tariff revision order in March, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) went by the existing methodology of computation and endorsed the rate [proposed by TANGEDCO] of Rs. 1,750 per HP per annum.
The earlier rate was Rs. 250 per HP per annum.
In his report, the CAG recalled the TNERC's stipulation of TANGEDCO having to carry out 100 per cent metering of all the agricultural consumers for claiming the correct quantum of subsidy from the State government.
TANGEDCO, in its communication in November 2011, stated that it had proposed to segregate agricultural feeders and provide meters on every feeder to compute the agricultural consumption accurately.
