RPG Enterprises flagship company CESC has entered into an agreement with SP Global Solutions (SPGS), a subsidiary of Singapore Power (SP), for technical assistance to revamp its distribution system to minimise system faults, boost revenues through reduction of downtime and build a globally competitive power distribution business under Rs 2,000 crore hardware investment plan.
"Apart from offering better services to our consumers in the form of better response time, this technical collaboration would help us to bring power into Kolkata from outside in the most cost-effective manner," said Sanjiv Goenka, vice-chairman of CESC.
As the monopoly power supplier for the greater Kolkata area, CESC was now spending around Rs 300 crore per year on strengthening its network.
After this pact, CESC would invest Rs 2,000 crore over the next three to five years to improve distribution standards with inputs from SP Global.
The current technical and consulting tie-up with SPGS could lead to further collaborations in the future like jointly bidding for distribution licenses as and when such opportunities arise.
SPGS would offer three-fold consultancy for a year, which will involve strategic planning, technology application and process standardisation in the licensed area of CESC.
The power utility would pay Rs six crore as a fee in the first year to SPGS.
CESC was building a 700 MW power plant at Haldia and power from that unit would have to brought to Kolkata around four years from now.
"Moreover, as downtime decreases, sales are likely to go up," Goenka highlighted.
He did not want to put in a figure to the quantum of sales increase.
As for the 1,920 MW Haldia thermal power plant project, the financial closure could be delayed by another six to eight weeks as the company expected steel and cement prices to go down, as well as interest rates to moderate.
The financial closure was due in October this year.
Currently, the power utility served around one crore connections in about 22.5 lakh households with 80,000 new consumers expected to join this year.
Its transmission and distribution losses were below 14 per cent, and CESC's Southern Generating station at Garden Reach registered a plant load factor (PLF) of 103.55, the highest in the country.
Its base load stations were among the top five power plants nationally in terms of PLF achieved for several years now.
