Maharashtra to learn a lesson from Gujarat

After slipping from 6th rank to 14th in the Union Power ministry's ranking of 40 state discoms in the country, Maharashtra has sent out its team of technical experts to learn from Gujarat whose four state-run utilities have been bagging top four positions since last two years.

To study optimization of power purchase and optimization of load management, an expert team from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company has gone to Vadodara-based State Load dispatch Centre (SLDC), last month.

The exercise was aimed to improve the functioning of the company and cut down losses which are now touching Rs56,000 crore. Out of which, MSEDCL owes Rs2,500 crore to its ex- distribution franchise Mula Pravara Electrical Cooperative Society (MPECS) managed by Congressman and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil.

The Power ministry's report has highlighted increased distribution losses, mounting debt, purchase from small companies, agricultural sector subsidies as "key concern" for the MSEDCL.

The team has returned and submitted its report to the higher ups.

"The team's observation and lessons will help us to optimize our systems, especially the power purchase, understand better management practices and cut losses," says Sanjeev Kumar, Managing director of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) also known as Mahavitaran.

"They have real-time data of all power lines coming in the state to keep accounts of the quantity of electricity transmitted through the State grid. Their system helps them to keep a tab on secure and economic operation of the grid," says a top official familiar with the development when asked how Gujarat better than Maharashtra.

The official added that Gujarat SLDC also has real time wind generation data along with a forecasting system which helps them to have control over the wind power generation. Maharashtra doesn't have it even as installed capacity of Wind energy is 4,000 MW.

"Some of the Gujarat lessons are being implemented now. Another team is also set to visit their discoms to learn their practices," says the official.

The Power Ministry has recently rated over 40 state-run distribution utilities spread across 21 states. State utility of Maharashtra which is the home state of Power Minister Piyush Goyal has been accorded B+ grade alongside with the state utilities of Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Bengal.

In all, four state power distribution companies of Gujarat have bagged top four positions in the ranking this year. These were at top positions in the previous year as well prompting Maharashtra to learn from them.
On September 12, dna reported how Mahavitaran has slipped from 6th position to 14th in the latest annual rankings of discoms by Power Ministry.

Backlog of 20 Lakh agri-meters bleeding Mahavitaran outOut of 38 lakh agricultural connections, the company has managed to meter only 18 lakh consumers. This, despite the fact that farmers' arrear have touched Rs13,000 crore this year. Sanjeev Kumar cited lack of fund for the skewed metering. "Every meter costs Rs2,000. That means we need at least Rs2,000 crore to complete the project. The company doesn't have that much fund hence the progress is slow," admits Kumar.

Imposing 9% duty on Open Access power didn't help state discom to retain industrial consumers

Kumar admitted that even after imposing 9% electricity duty on Open access Power, MSEDCL didn't gain much and industries continue to shun it. He however insisted that the move was not aimed at benefiting MSEDCL but giving it a level playing filed. Over 500 big Industrial consumers, including Railway, have left the state discom to purchase cheaper power from open market over last two years alerting the government. MahaVitaran charges industry consumers Rs 8.23 a unit. The power purchased through open access is cheaper by at least Rs 1.50 a unit.