States will likely have to reduce aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of their power distribution companies (discoms) to 15%, allow open access to industrial consumers to procure electricity from sources of their own choice and implement direct cash transfers to provide subsidy to eligible power consumers to avail a part of the increased net borrowing permitted by the government on Sunday.
Though the final framework of the prescribed reforms have not been finalised yet, the Centre is likely to direct states to reduce AT&C losses through improvement of the discoms’ corporate governance and increased intervention of IT-enabled infrastructure to lower pilferage in power supply, sources in the power ministry said.
