While shifting departmental offices from Hyderabad to Vijayawada post-bifurcation, the government is expected to take due note of the need to carve out a new power distribution company (Discom) from Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL).
According to highly placed sources, the headquarters of the new DISCOM is likely to be Vijayawada. At present, the State has two Discoms - Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited headquartered in Visakhapatnam, the other one being SPDCL, which is based in Tirupati. The establishment of the new DISCOM has been doing the rounds for various reasons including the administrative pressure the SPDCL is facing in taking care of eight districts including Anantapur and Kurnool that were taken out from the erstwhile Hyderabad-based Central Power Distribution Company Limited (CPDCL). At present, SPDCL manages Guntur, Kadapa, Nellore, Ongole, Tirupati and Vijayawada circles to which Anantapur and Kurnool were added as are geographically located in Seemandhra. “The main reasons for streamlining the existing power networks by dividing the 13 districts into three entities are employment generation, easing of the pressure on SPDCL and the need for a DISCOM in the Capital”, a top official of SPDCL told The Hindu . He said the new DISCOM was essential in the sense that the power infrastructure in the Capital region was growing rapidly and officials could not frequently travel to Vijayawada from Tirupati once the Chief Minister and the top brass of the power utilities stay for more days in the city. “After Vijayawada region was announced as capital, there was a discussion about setting up DISCOM comprising Krishna, Guntur Prakasam and Nellore circles. There is no formal proposal yet but it may eventually happen”, said the SPDCL official who did not wish to be identified.
The new DISCOM will reduce the burden on SPDCL which will be left with four circles, down from eight in the existing setup. 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 headquarters of the new Discom is likely to be Vijayawada
