Ranchi, Feb. 9: State power distribution company Jharkhand Bijli Vitaran Nigam Limited (JBVNL), facing flak for being in the red despite a hefty bailout last year from the Centre's Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (Uday), has explained that rural subsidy and the reduced business from Indian Railways has prevented it from becoming a profit-making organisation.

At the same time, the managing director of the state's parent power company Jharkhand Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (JUVNL), Rahul Purwar, clarified that the figures on the Uday portal were incorrect.

According to the recent report prepared by the Centre's consultants Motilal Oswal, of the 21 states that participated in the scheme, operational losses - measured by the difference between the average cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realised (ARR) - increased in seven during April-September 2016.

Jharkhand, which was the first to join Uday, and had received Rs 6,136 crore from the scheme, is among the seven. Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka, Bihar and Uttarakhand being the others.

On the Uday portal, JBVNL's operational losses are shown to have increased from 90 paisa to Rs 2.50 per kilowatt hour from April to September in 2016. But, Purwar told this correspondent that operational losses increased from Rs 1.67 to Rs 2.38 per kilowatt hour.

"The accounts available on Uday portal are not correct and we will get these rectified very soon," he said.

Explaining the operational losses, Purwar said heavy subsidies in rural electrification and reduced purchase from Indian Railways were the main reasons, but also said that the distribution company had done well considering the circumstances.

"Our consumers in rural areas have increased sharply. The average power purchase cost is Rs 4.23 per unit and we supply power to rural consumers for Re 1 per unit. Most villagers pay a fixed sum of Rs 40 per month," he said, explaining the scale of subsidies.

"Also, Indian Railways purchased electricity worth over Rs 35 crore per month from us. Now the railways is getting the lion's share of power from Ratnagiri grid in Maharashtra. We hardly get Rs 9 crore from the railways," he added.

On media reports that Jharkhand had not settled pending electricity and coal dues despite the Uday bailout package, Purwar said: "The dues of central public sector units of Rs 5,553.37 crore as on September 30, 2015, have been fully settled. Of the other debts amounting to Rs 1,166 crore, 50 per cent have been settled."

He said that it could not be ruled out that grants-in-aid received under Uday were being treated as loans and assessors (Motilal Oswal) were adding up interest amounts as well.

"Otherwise, we are doing well on every front. Installation of new transmission lines and replacement of old ones are in full swing. Uday scheme stresses on checking aggregate technical and commercial losses within 15 per cent permissible limit, which we are giving proper attention to," Purwar said.