MSEDCL moots Rs 12,500 cr revamp plan

In a bid to revamp the state's power distribution network, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) has prepared an ambitious Rs 12,500 crore plan, which will be implemented over the next five years.

The company has also forged a tie-up with the state's power generation arm Mahagenco (Maharashtra State Power Generation Company) to buy 10,000 mw power to rid the state of the planned load shedding over the same five-year period.

MSEDCL Managing Director Sanjay Bhatia told media persons here that the plan envisages, among other initiatives, setting up of additional sub-stations, erection of transformers, installation of additional distribution lines and augmentation of the existing structures.

Bhatia said the company has recently completed the demand management exercise for the entire state, which forms the basis of the network revamp plan.

"All the 550 sub-stations in the state have studied the demand pattern for their areas, according to the development taking place there, and we are now ready to go ahead with the implementation," Bhatia said.

The broad outline for the plan is prepared for five years, but a detailed project report has been prepared for the first three years, Bhatia said, adding that the bidding process for the project would start soon.

"We will invite tenders from parties to work as project management consultants for the plan on a turnkey basis and also appoint external quality assurance consultants to supervise the work quality," Bhatia said.

The project outlay for this will be Rs 7,500 crore and MSEDCL has signed memorandums of association with Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) for a long-term, soft loan of Rs 7,000 crore, Bhatia said.

While PFC will offer Rs 2,000 crore of the loan, REC will extend the larger chunk, he said, adding that the arrangement would be adequate for the three-year, first phase of the plan. About Rs 1,000 crore of this project investment will be in Pune city and zone, Bhatia said.

He clarified that the distribution losses in the state have been on the decline and the percentage of these losses came down from 32 per cent to 29 per cent last year and to 26 per cent this year.

"With the revitalised distribution network, this proportion will reduce further," he said.

Bhatia said MSEDCL has estimated that the power deficit for the state will rise to 10,000 mw over the five years and has looked at capacity addition and demand management to deal with this deficit. Mahagenco has planned 18,000 mw capacity addition and we will be ready with the network, he said.

Allaying fears that additional power availability may come at a higher cost, Bhatia said the power tariffs will actually reduce, as all the additional generation is by the state-based units. "We expect this power will be generated at a cost of Rs 2.5 a unit," he said.

About 90 per cent of the new generation planned in the state is coal-based and as Mahagenco "� along with the Gujarat government "� now has rights to captive coal mining at Macchikata mine in Orissa, the generation costs would be predictably low, Bhatia said.

Elaborating on the consumer-friendly initiatives of MSEDCL, Bhatia said the company has started 'Customer Facilitation' centres for the daily requirements of the consumer.

These will offer services such as new connections or billing queries and will have a time limit within which to dispose of the consumer's request. He said the 'Consumer Grievances Cell', started recently, has been evoking good response.

Talking about the Confederation of Indian Industry's proposal for captive power generation by Pune-based corporates, Bhatia said the project has been in the trial phase and will be completely operational by June 5.

The proposal is approved subject to review after one year and need not be extended beyond that, if an alternative power source becomes available at that time, he said.

Bhatia, however, stressed that the experiment has evinced considerable interest and requests to replicate it have come in from other cities like Thane, Belapur and Nagpur.