The Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) has advised the State government to wind up the Cooperative Electric Supply Society (CESS) Sircilla and merge it with the Northern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Ltd (TSNPDCL or Northern Discom) “to curb the revenue losses of the entity in order to extend better services to consumers of the two Discoms”.
In a letter addressed to the Principal Secretary (Energy) to the State government earlier this week, Secretary to the Commission wrote on behalf of TSERC that the audit of accounts of CESS conducted by Commission, conducted by qualified auditors on the directions of TSERC for the 2014-2022 period, had found that the total revenue leakage was about ₹94.89 crore and assets worth ₹59.54 crore were not capitalised.
Further, the Commission advised the government to take a view on the non-payment of dues to the tune of ₹558.44 crore to TSNPDCL against power drawn from the Discom. The audit has found ₹10.48 crore as outstanding amount due as additional consumption deposits, issuance of material without proper reason amounted to ₹60 crore and theft of power put at ₹37.36 lakh.
The audit instituted by the Commission in place of one being carried out by the Cooperative department without having any expertise, ineffective to curb the revenue leakages and misuse of material and funds of the cooperative had reported discrepancies such as lack of insurance coverage to store leading to huge loss in the 2018-19 flood, non-disposal of scrap for over a year and failure to collect dues from government departments and local bodies.
During the interaction with electricity consumers of CESS held by TSERC on November 1, 2022, it was brought to the Commission’s notice that several irregularities were taking place in the matter of revenue realisation and the expenditure being incurred by different wings of the cooperative was leading to losses incurred by the body.
