Two Of The Four Gujarat State Discoms Top All-India Integrated Rating

In the 10th Integrated Rating of Power Distribution Utilities, published by the Union Power Ministry, two of the four state-owned power distribution firms (DISCOMS) of Gujarat have emerged on top.

Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Limited (DGVCL) and Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited (MGVCL), two of the 71 discoms evaluated, took the top two spots, while Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Limited (UGVCL) and Pashchim Gujarat Vij Company Limited (PGVCL), two other State discoms, came in fourth and eighth, respectively, with A+ grades.

The 10th Integrated Rating of Power Distribution Utilities, the first Consumer Service Rating of DISCOMs, and the Bharat eSmart Mobile Application (BeSMA) were all introduced in New Delhi on Friday by R K Singh, Minister for Power, New, and Renewable Energy.

Kanu Desai, the minister of energy for Gujarat, credited the success of the government's aggressive consumer-focused strategy and various creative methods to expand power infrastructure.

“Energy sector was facing critical time. The global situation of the supply of coal and gas had led to the situation of electricity shortage. Power cuts had increased in other states,” Patel said.

Since 2012, the Integrated Rating exercise has been conducted yearly to assess the performance of utilities in terms of the external environment, performance excellence, and financial sustainability, as well as their capacity to sustain improvements over time.

Private DISCOMs and State Power Departments were added this year for the first time in addition to the State Discoms for thorough sectoral coverage.

Twelve DISCOMS in all received an A+ rating, including six state-run utilities from Gujarat (four), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (one), and Haryana (one), as well as six private utilities from Gujarat (two), Maharashtra (two), Uttar Pradesh (one), and West Bengal (one).

The private utilities included the Adani Group's Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited and Tata Power Mumbai Limited, Torrent Power's Ahmedabad and Surat utilities, Noida Power Company Limited in Uttar Pradesh, and India Power Corporation Ltd. in West Bengal.

The assessment resulted in an A for the power departments of Daman & Diu, Chandigarh, and BEST-Maharashtra.

In fiscal 2021, 26 out of 71 utilities (including Power Departments) had aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of less than 15%, compared to 21 utilities the year before.

The research noted that AT&C losses between FY19 and FY21 had mostly stayed constant over the last three years, at roughly 21%.

On a performance excellence scale that comprised SERC-approved metrics like billing efficiency, collection efficiency, corporate governance, and distribution loss, a total of 14 utilities received scores of more than 10 out of 13. UGVCL, Torrent Power Ahmedabad, TPML, IPCL, and DGVCL were the top 5 among them.

The report's findings also revealed that state utilities in Gujarat and Haryana, as well as private DISCOMs, had adopted several creative strategies to enhance their overall operational and financial performance.