The Andhra Pradesh Government has taken baby steps towards carving a new company (DISCOM) out of Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) which has eight districts in its jurisdiction. The new DISCOM will cater to Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts and will be headquartered at Vijayawada.
Though the proposal has not yet been put on paper, Energy Secretary Ajay Jain dropped clear hints of formation of the new company in a review meeting held in Hyderabad recently. He was told by SPDCL officials that the head office of new DISCOM requires at least 50,000 square feet of space to accommodate offices of the Chairman and Managing Director, Directors and a large number of administrative officers and staff.
Mr. Jain is learnt to have instructed the officials to put forth a detailed proposal to take it forward.
It is however going to take at least a couple of years as a policy decision has to be taken at the highest level.
The need for a separate DISCOM was felt after the number of its operational circles touched eight as a consequence of bifurcation. SPDCL used to handle Guntur, Kadapa, Nellore, Ongole, Tirupati and Vijayawada circles to which Anantapur and Kurnool were added from Central Power Distribution Company Limited, which is now Telangana State SPDCL with Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy circles in its purview.
SPDCL now caters to a population of nearly 3.10 crore. It has approximately 77.251 lakh domestic connections, 7.65 lakh non-domestic and commercial services, nearly 99.21 lakh low tension services and 4,60,455 distribution transformers and other infrastructure spread across 1,18,120 square kilometres.
As their operation and maintenance has become difficult, formation of the new DISCOM has been stressed and according to official sources, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for it. As on date, Andhra Pradesh has two DISCOMs - Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL) based in Visakhapatnam and SPDCL in Tirupati.
The new DISCOM, to be headquartered in Vijayawada, will cater for Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts
