As domestic demand rises, discom losses set to widen

The three-week nationwide lockdown is set to+ worsen the precarious finances of power distribution companies (discoms), as electricity demand load has shifted to homes during the lockdown, resulting in lower realizations.

Domestic electricity connections account for around a quarter of India’s power demand and contribute towards a bulk of India’s average aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of 21.4%. Also, the gap between the cost of electricity bought (average cost of supply) and supplied (average revenue realized) for discoms is still substantial in most states and ranges from ₹2.13 per unit in Andhra Pradesh to ₹0.09 in Chhattisgarh.