Situation of TN Power Utility

Year over year, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) through its subsidiary Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (TANGEDCO) has been accumulating losses. Past tariff increases had not quite helped to bring down the rate of increase of accumulated losses. But due to the tariff revision effected in December last year, TNEB has been able to generate some additional revenue, mainly because more power is being generated. As a result, TNEB can now begin to think of wiping out the accumulated losses. But the road ahead will not be easy.

Compared to last January , the revenue this year has increased by 20%.The increase is mainly due to the 15% tariff revision effected in December 2014 and also due to measures taken to cut down transmission and distribution losses.

Last year the annual loss touched Rs. 13,985 crore ­ up by 20% compared to 2012-13. The December hike may not have a significant impact on this year's loss position but augurs well for next year. Due to continuous increase in losses, the accumulated losses at the end of last financial year increased to Rs. 52,226 crore. Purchase of power, interest and financial costs had eaten up the company's revenue from sale of power which increased by 11% compared to the previous year.

OPS in TN - how doing?

Anything for 'Amma'

14th Finance Commission recommendations: Nine states to lose

While the Narendra Modi government may be gloating over the 14th Finance Commission's recommendation increasing the share of states in Central taxes to 42 per cent from the current 32 per cent, but the share of nine states has decreased.

(1) Andhra Pradesh (including Telanagan)

(2) Assam

(3) Bihar

(4) Himachal Pradesh

(5) Odisha

(6) Rajasthan

(7) Tamil Nadu

(8) Uttar Pradesh

(9) Uttarakhand

in fact stand to lose in the Commission's recommendations.

Non-BJP-ruled states like Telangana, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, or Bihar, which is going to polls later in 2015/2016, will protest the decrease in their share and try to derive political mileage out of it.

The Commission added a new criterion of forest cover for devolution of Central taxes which has gone against the nine states. The Commission said that, it believes that a large forest cover provides huge ecological benefits, but there is also an opportunity cost in terms of area not available for other economic activities and this also serves as an important indicator of fiscal disability.

The panel has assigned 7.5 per cent weight to forest cover for inter-se determination of the shares of taxes to the states, while population carries 17.5 per cent weight, demographic change 10, income distance 50 and area 15 per cent weight.

With the addition of the new criterion, Uttar Pradesh is the biggest loser followed by Bihar. Uttar Pradesh's per-se share has reduced from 19.677 per cent in 13th Finance Commission to 17.959 per cent now, while Bihar's has come down from 10.917 per cent to 9.665 per cent.

A 'sutiable' end to the controversy

Minutes before the hammer fell on the three-day auction for India's most talked about suit, a diamond baron upped the bid to Rs.4.31 crore on Feb 20, 2015 to bag the bandhgala with the words Narendra Damodardas Modi woven in as pinstripes.

Surat-based Dharmanandan Diamonds, a Rs.5,000-crore company , jumped into the fray on the last day to walk away with the suit that the PM wore during US President Barack Obama's visit to India. It won over a bid of Rs.5 crore as that came two minutes past the 5 pm deadline and was disqualified.

The gallery resonated with chants of `Modi, Modi' as soon as district collector Rajender Kumar declared the winner of the auction. Dharmanandan Diamonds began by bidding Rs.1.61 crore. Eventually , Lalji Patel, owner of the company , bettered an offer of Rs.3.61 crore made at 4.35 pm. Dharmanandan Diamonds, which won the auction for PM Narendra Modi's pinstripe suit, made five of the 11 bids that were received on Friday , the last day of the auction.

While it was almost certain since Day 1 that the diamond industry would walk away with the suit, victory did not come easily as builders like Sanjay Movaliya, Jayanti Eklara and Lavji Badshah put up a fierce fight. In fact, Badshah narrowly missed when his Rs.5 crore offer was rejected by the district collector as it came two minutes past the 5 pm deadline.

Two days ago, diamond barons spearheading the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) project had decided to make the highest bid to bag the suit which they want to keep as a memorabilia in the SDB complex. Dharmanandan Diamonds is one of the founding members of SDB, which is touted to be the world's largest diamond bourse.

As the monogrammed Modi suit notched over Rs.4 crore at an auction, Congress upped the ante against the Prime Minister by saying the value of the attire had been vastly underestimated. “The PM has much more to clarify than we initially thought and demanded. We did not realize that it was a suit that cost over Rs.4 crore”, former Union minister and Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja said.

To rub it in, she said the suit was being auctioned in the name of generating funds to clean the Ganga but the cloud over the clothing suggested that it was a way to “wash away the sins” in the holy river. “The Ganga should not be polluted by such money”, she said. Senior party leader Imran Kidwai said it was an irony that “the man who called himself the `chowkidar' of the country wore a suit costing Rs. 4 crore”

In Chennai Secretariat

Power demand in TN soars to 13000 MW

It is still February and the chill in the air is not yet gone, but the temperature during the day has already touched 33°C. The power demand has shot up too. On Feb 16, the power demand was 13,000MW, equivalent to what it was in June last year when the temperature had soared to 40°C. The good news this time around is that there is no power shortage in the state now even though the demand is increasing. Apart from the demand in the domestic sector, the industrial demand is also going up and it is being met because many thermal plants are generating power to full capacity along with Kudankulam unit 1. A TNEB source says that, summer this year could witness the demand touching 15,000MW.

Power demand in Tamil Nadu has been going up significantly since February 5.Demand is high even during morning hours when temperature is relatively low, because people still use electricity to heat water. Demand keeps increasing as the day progresses and temperature also rises.

          Last year, the demand in March was around 12,300MW, but only 11,600MW was met and there used to be frequent load shedding. This year there is additional thermal power generation and expect one unit in north Chennai, all other plants are functioning to their full capacity and therefore there is no shortage. Compared to last year, more than 1,500MW of power generation capacity has been added to the state’s kitty.

A private thermal plant in Tuticorin is generating 600MW and all nuclear reactors in Kalpakkam, Kaiga and Kudankulam are also working at 80% plant load factor. Tamil Nadu is comfortable as of now with regard to the power situation. North Chennai unit 1, which is under maintenance, will start running by month end. It will generate another 600MW.

The demand is going up as many houses have started using airconditioners in the evening as the wind flow is low. As the AC usage goes up, the demand also increases. Apart from ACs, small and medium industries like textiles in Coimbatore and Tirupur have started using power. As a thumb rule, the demand in the state will go up by 1000MW each year. That way it can expect the demand to hover around 15,000MW this summer. Wind should save the state without shortage in summer.

PM breaks his silence

In Chennai (at Secretariat) - fund relief for Major Mukund's family

Swine flu - status

By-poll across the nation

Jan Dhan Yojana - Updation

Srirangam goes with AMMA way once again.

Total electorates	2, 70, 129
Electorates who voted	2, 21, 172
Men	1, 08, 026
Women	1, 13, 138
% of votes polled	81.83%

Round	I Place		II Place		III Place		NOTA
	Party	Votes	Party	Votes	Party	Votes
1	AIADMK	6234	DMK	1950	BJP	170	64
2		5999		2189		181	67
3		6904		2601		162	63
4		5751		2674		158	69
5		7178		2665		219	101
6		6718		1782		290	134
7		6761		1606		259	128
8		8041		2582		289	138
9		6548		2012		307	125
10		6069		1419		450	166
11		7357		3296		291	95
12		7304		2985		161	71
13		7149		3276		167	58
14		6265		3015		131	64
15		6471		2871		184	93
16		5435		2525		214	89
17		5778		2221		183	42
18		6424		2274		233	70
19		7592		2237		233	75
20		6609		1743		134	41
21		6079		2425		216	51
22		6520		2486		202	51
23		6375		2210		181	64
Total		151561		55045		5015	1919

Final Results
Party	Votes received
AIADMK	151561
DMK	55045
BJP	5015
NOTA	1919
CPI	1552
Indep (Traffic Ramaswamy)	1167
AIADMK won by a margin of 96516
BJP loses its Deposit Amount