Private participation to infuse freshblood into state utilities

State power utilities that lose more than 15 percent of revenue due to outdated networks, power theft and poor billing and collections have been directed by the government to seek private participation in their distribution network. We ask industry players their views.

Power distribution, as we have noticed, is plagued with inefficiencies. Power theft/pilferage is a problem across distribution companies. Some of the power distribution companies are engaging in private participation from the consulting standpoint to bring in efficiencies in terms of reaching out from substation to end customers. Private participation has brought in fresh investment perspective towards business models (prepaid/post-paid), rationalising slabs and implementing efficient switchgears and transformers. Private participation has always brought in clear focus on service quality and hence profitability, besides balancing investments and expenses. Government policy and subsidy to needy end consumers would have to be spelt out clearly and consistently for private participation to understand the ground reality after careful due diligence.

Niju Nair, Director – Business Management, ASEAN

It is always welcome to see any measures to bring down losses whether through private participation or through technology. This is where I see solar having a huge advantage as it can be distributed and along with microgrid storage can be at the point of use, thus minimising transmission losses.

Akshay Kashyap, Founder and Managing Director, GreenFuel Energy Solutions

Indian T&D loss has been at the highest, and major losses are in the DISCOMs. Many private DISCOMs are leading the path toward higher efficiencies as well as very low failure rate of transformers and other assets. They have deployed the best technologies in monitoring as well as metering of load on their asset and avoided overloading of assets even during peak demand. It is very important that our DISCOMs seek participation from private players, which will bring in best practices and technology and make distribution not only efficient but also reliable.

Jitendra Agrawal, Managing Director, The Motwane Manufacturing Company Pvt. Ltd.