New Delhi, March 14 :     The annual commercial losses of of all state electricity boards (SEBs) will shoot up to Rs 30,000 crore next year against the projected loss of Rs 20,000 crore this year. State governments have been putting off a decision on raising tariffs in the hope that the regulatory authorities being set up will do this hatchet job. These regulatory agencies are unlikely to become operational till the end of next year. At the current level of tariffs, the losses will mount by another Rs 10,000 crore. The Centre has been impressing upon states administrations to rein in the mounting subsidies by raising power tariffs for agriculture. On an average, the agriculture sector pays 20 paise per unit as against Rs 2-4 by industry. The industry, in effect, cross subsidises the agriculture sector to a certain extent. Consider all this against the fact that the average cost of power works out to Rs 2 per unit. The Centre is convinced that states' finances will continue to be in a shambles as long as SEBs fail to perform. The World Bank-prescribed solution is that the state governments will have to absorb the cumulative losses as a prelude to restructuring SEBs. The performance of SEBs is related to the character of the political leadership in power. States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh are performing reasonably well. Andhra, which once had a well-managed SEB, is in the red because of the populist policies of late N.T. Rama Rao. Power boards in Karnataka, Haryana and Punjab are also neck-deep in losses. The SEB in Orissa was the first to be taken up for restructuring. On the recommendation of the World Bank, it was trifurcated into generation, transmission and distribution companies. The experiment, however, failed because the government used the money from disinvestment for current consumption. The distribution company was to be privatised, but in the absence of takers for it, the state government could not go ahead with its privatisation programme. The World Bank is now wiser. It is not recommending the Orissa model to other states. The Andhra government, which is restructuring its SEB, has been advised to take over the liabilities by injecting funds annually. The regulatory agencies cannot be expected to work wonders. They cannot do away with subsidies in one stroke. It has to be a gradual process. In some north Indian states, SEB officials do not dare to even inspect the metres installed in houses. The situation is better in the western and southern states.