The Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (APSPDCL) is all set to become the largest power distribution company in the State, with the number of its operational circles touching eight as a consequence of the bifurcation, according to sources in the government.
A provision to this effect has been made in the A.P. Reorganisation Act, but SPDCL has not yet received guidelines on reassigning two Rayalaseema districts to it.
However, the company may be eventually split into two. One of them will have Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore circles under it, and the other will have Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa and Kurnool.
At present, SPDCL manages Guntur, Kadapa, Nellore, Ongole, Tirupati and Vijayawada circles to which Anantapur and Kurnool (now in CPDCL) will be added as they come under Seemandhra. CPDCL will be left with Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, Medak and Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy circles after the ‘reassignment’ (of Anantapur and Kurnool to SPDCL) is completed.
Except that the merger of Anantapur and Kurnool will expand the operational jurisdiction of SPDCL, it will be of no benefit as it does not involve creation of any additional infrastructure at the moment. However, there will be proportionate reallocation of manpower on the basis of numbers of operational circles and posts in the Southern and Central Discoms.
SPDCL currently caters to a population of more than 2.25 crore, and it has nearly 57.50 lakh domestic and 44 lakh non-domestic and commercial connections. The number of low tension services stands at about 71 lakh and high tension nearly 3,000. The existing State of Andhra Pradesh has four Discoms - SPDCL, CPDCL, NPDCL and EPDCL based in Tirupati, Hyderabad, Warangal and Visakhapatnam respectively. NPDCL covers Adilabad, Karimnagar, Kha-mmam, Nizamabad and Warangal circles and EPDCL caters to Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East and West Godavari circles.
