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New Delhi: Union Minister of Power and MNRE, RK Singh chaired a Review, Planning and Monitoring (RPM) meeting with states and state power utilities on January 23 and 24, stated the Ministry in a statement on Wednesday. During the meeting, status of Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) launched by the government to enhance operation efficiency to ensure financial viability of the distribution sector was discussed and state wise progress of the scheme was deliberated in detail, it added.
"The Minister reviewed state wise performance of DISCOMs or Power Departments, compliance to pre-qualification criteria under RDSS, progress on RDSS implementation and other key elements including subsidy and energy accounting, corporate governance etc," said the statement.
"While reviewing the state's performance, Singh appreciated the efforts made by all the stakeholders in addressing AT&C loss in the country which has resulted in overall reduction of AT&C losses by five percent in FY 2021-22," it added.
He recognised the efforts made by states, who have achieved more than three percent reduction in AT&C losses from FY 2020-21 to FY 2021-22, and appreciated the initiatives taken to meet such reduction.
"Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura and West Bengal received appreciation for the same. Few states like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Uttarakhand were also appreciated for steadily maintaining their losses within reasonable limits. Further, the states that have not been able to improve on their losses were advised to take up measures for achieving loss reduction targets under RDSS," it added.
Singh also laid importance on implementation of smart metering in pre-paid mode and asked states to expedite the implementation of scheme. "The states were further advised to ensure that no penalty be levied on any consumer for higher load discovered after installation of prepaid smart meter and billing may be done on actual load basis," said the statement.
"He also highlighted the benefits of solarisation of agriculture feeders as it will provide power, at lower cost, during the daytime to agriculture consumers and reduce subsidy burden of the state government," said the statement.
"Best practices adopted for disaster resilience in power distribution infrastructure, consumer engagement for smart meter deployment, IT initiatives in power distribution and subsidy accounting mechanism were shared in the meeting. The Minister emphasised on collaborating and adoption by other states," said the statement.
Singh also stressed on the need to conduct survey on availability of power in rural and urban areas. "Results of such survey shall be reviewed after implementation of RDSS with a view to ensure 24×7 power supply throughout the country," he said.
"The Minister stressed on the need to address inefficiencies in distribution sector with priority on reduction of losses, maintaining proper subsidy accounts, energy accounting and to ensure prepaid smart metering implementation to enhance revenue realisation and thereby, avoiding undesirable borrowings," said the statement.
"Various aspects related to financial viability of power sector and issues related to fiscal discipline and payment of dues towards GENCOs were also deliberated. The Minister also emphasised the importance of implementing Time of Day (ToD) tariff to ensure flattening of load curves while ensuring that tariff for solar hours be kept reasonable," it added.
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