The Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (KPTC) has drawn up an investment plan of Rs 3,800 crore for the next three years.
A KPTC official told Business Standard that an investment of Rs 1,500 crore had been drawn up for the current fiscal. During 1998-99, a total of Rs 900 crore was earmarked, of which only Rs 700 crore was utilised.
Of the total Rs 3,800 crore, an amount of Rs 1,400 crore has been earmarked for system upgradation.
The official said KPTC had tied up with the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) to fund the Rs 1,500 crore investment plan for 1999-2000. REC will disburse around Rs 500 crore and PFC around Rs 250 crore.
KPTC will draw about Rs 400 crore from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco), with which it has already signed an agreement. The remaining amount will be raised through internal resources.
The official said KPTC was planning to limit the interest rates to between 13 per cent and 13.5 per cent. Last year, the interest rate was around 14.5 per cent.
He said the corporation would prefer to tap PFC for more loans since its interest rates were less than 11 per cent.
The KPTC has also sought from the Karnataka government around Rs 1,200 crore as reimbursement for subsidising power to certain sectors, including the farm sector, for 1999-2000.
Nearly 42 per cent of the energy available for the entire state goes towards the farm sector, according to a top energy department official of the state government. The official said the government charges a mere 21 paise per unit from farmers, which is Rs 300 per horse power (HP) per annum.
During 1998-99, the Karnataka government had reimbursed Rs 670 crore against a transmission and distribution (T&D) loss of around 30 per cent. KPTC expects to cut down T&D losses for 1999-2000 by around 0.5 per cent, in view of various measures being taken to cut down the losses.
The energy department official, however, admitted that T&D losses in Karnataka were among the lowest in the country. During 1997-98, the corporation received around Rs 369 crore as subsidies for a T&D loss of 18.5 per cent.
During 1996-97, KPTC sought subsidies of around Rs 705 crore against a T&D loss of 18 per cent.
The rise in subsidies since 1997-98 is largely due failure of rains during 1996-97, which led to lower generation of power from hydel stations.
The corporation's turnovers during 1998-99 and 1997-98 were at Rs 3,150 crore, with profits of around Rs 70 crore. This works out to a 3 per cent rate of return on net fixed assets.
KPTC Power Plans
* KPTC plans Rs 3,800 crore investment over the next three years
* Rs 1,400 crore earmarked for system upgradation
* Rs 1,500 crore investment planned for 1999-2000
Funds for 1999-2000 to come from:
* Rural Electrification Corpora
