Despite being mired in controversy, Delhi’s power sector seems to be a model for several developing countries. Several African and North American countries like Kenya, Jamaica are now visiting the Capital to gain technical know-how on electricity reforms in the city.
With an aim to introduce electricity reforms in their respective countries, utility representatives from the Kenyan and Jamaican power sector, visited the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) and distribution firms such as Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDPL) earlier this month. Previously, Nigeria and Tanzania too had visited the city for the same.
“The primary aspect which all these countries want to implement is the way the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses have reduced in Delhi ever since privatisation. We gave them an overview of the major challenges and how the issue was addressed from a regulatory, technological and social perspective,” said P.D. Sudhakar, Chairperson, DERC.
According to discom TPDDL, the countries expressed profound interest in Delhi’s slum electrification project among other things. “They were keen on knowing how slums have been electrified in the city even as piped water supply has not reached many of them. Besides, we also presented non-technical loss reduction efforts employed by various stakeholders and shared cost-effective techniques and policies to reduce non-technical losses while improving the safety, reliability, affordability and efficiency of electricity supply, which can be applied to the Jamaican context,” said a TPDDL spokesperson.
The participating companies include the Kenya Energy Regulatory Commission, Kenya Power and Lighting Company, Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd and Jamaica Social Investment Fund.
A major factor due to privatisation of power sector in Delhi has been the significant reduction in AT&C losses. According to data with DERC, earlier AT&C losses were more than 55 per cent. After privatisation in 2002, it has now come down to 15 per cent.
With an aim to introduce electricity reforms in their respective countries, utility representatives from the Kenyan and Jamaican power sector visited the DERC and distribution firms such as Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited earlier this month
