Several awards and appreciations for bringing a transformational change in power supply scenario apart, the two power distribution companies (Discoms) in Telangana have not been able to scale up their efficiency as desired by the Ministry of Power, in spite of huge spend on strengthening the transmission and distribution network over the last five years.
Although there has been some improvement on the parameters in which the two Discoms' performance is being measured every three months by the MoP after they joined Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) in January 2017, their efficiency in two key areas of average technical and commercial (AT&C) losses and average cost of supply (ACS)-average revenue realised (ARR) gap has been fluctuating.
In the recent performance audit report for the two Discoms for the quarter ended with December 2018, the combined AT&C losses have been put at 13.37% against the target of 9.71%. The two Discoms have not been able to meet even the baseline of 13.5% set by the MoP. Similarly, the ACS-ARR gap is still hovering high around ₹1 per unit, ₹0.96 per unit to be precise, against the target of ₹013 per unit, lest achieving the baseline of ₹0.55 per unit.
Smart meters
Individually, the Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Ltd (TSSPDCL) has been able to keep AT&C losses at 13.32% and ACS-ARR gap at ₹1 per unit and Northern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Ltd (TSNPDCL) has fared almost similar with 13.37% and ₹0.90 per unit, respectively, on the two parameters.
When contacted, a senior official of TSSPDCL stated that improving the efficiency was a continuous process and they have bettered their performance on several parameters compared to what it was five years ago.
The losses and revenue gap have also come down compared to the past and they are be expected go down further with installation of smart energy reading meters and prepaid meters along with distribution transformer metering, the official said.
The two Discoms have also not made much headway on the parameters such as profit/loss including subsidy., power charges payable to yearly power purchase expenditure, receivables outstanding to yearly turnover, smart metering and feeder segregation. However, they were able to score in the aspects such as distribution transformer metering both in rural and urban areas, distribution of LEDs, renewable power purchase obligation and rural feeder auditing.
