IIT in pact with Kanpur power firm

Kanpur Electricity Supply Company (Kesco) and the Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur) have formed a joint working group to sort out the problems of the electricity sector.

Both organisations will have five members on the group, headed IIT Deputy Director K Kripa Shanker. Kesco Managing Director Sanjeev Garg says it is a win-win situation.

"IIT scientists work on frontier areas of technology and Kesco in the field. Continuous interaction is going to help both," he added.

The areas identified for consultation are the geographcial information system, management information system, trouble call management, operations, etc.

"The question before us is whether to outsource these activities or to do them in-house. Various models are being tried and many others are being thought of," Garg said.

Not much advance has been made in the past four years.

"Kanpur has three zones and each zone has 15 divisons. What is required are two to three strategies for each divison. We are giving power on credit. We give 75 days' credit to the domestic consumer, 45 days' credit to commercial consumers, and 30 days' credit to industrial consumers. Thus, to begin with, in two areas we proposed introducing pre-paid meters, like Naubasta and Phoolbagh. In south Kanpur, we have outsourced bill collection to Sainik Kalyan Samity. At other places, we have a consumer-friendly approach. Various schemes are being thought of for different areas," Garg said.

The company lost Duncan's account of Rs 16 crore a month due to the closure of the factory. And LML, which was paying Rs 1 crore a month, has got a reprieve from the state government on payment of bills. It proposes to pay after two years.

The company is making a cash loss of Rs 8"�10 crore a month.