Srinagar, July 23: The state’s Power Development Department (PDD) has decided to outsource power distribution mechanism to private franchisees from next year for “ensuring efficiency and better revenue generation.”
Development Commissioner Power Manzoor Ahmad Salroo said outsourcing of power distribution system would increase efficiency in the system and bring down power losses to acceptable limits.
“Outsourcing would not only ensure efficient power supply to the consumers but will also improve revenue collection,” Salroo told Greater Kashmir on the sidelines of the concluding session of 3-day National Training Program on Franchising at Government Polytechnic here on Saturday.
Salroo said the new arrangement would provide area-wise micromanagement system and review entire power distribution of the area to be outsourced.
“The planning and designing of power distribution of an area, including area-wise auditing, billing, protection and installation of switching devices would be the responsibility of the franchisee,” Salroo said.
He said the project would be run at the lower level from the billing and auditing. “Later we can implement BOOT (Built, Own, Operate and Transfer) system where the franchisee would take care of electrification of the whole area”, he said.
According to estimates by PDD, the Aggregate Technical and Commercial Losses (AT&C) in the state’s power sector are 72 percent - highest in the country.
“The department gets returns of 28 percent out of total energy pumped into in the system while at national level the loss is around 28 percent only”, Technical Officer to Development Commissioner PDD Bashir Ahmad said.
He said the power purchase bill for current financial year is estimated to be around Rs 2,944 cr against the expected revenue of Rs 1,136 crore. “The unmet revenue gap, which is around Rs 1800 crore due to power losses, is a great drain on the state exchequer”, Ahmad said.
The department, Salroo said, wanted to achieve the unmet revenue target and reduce the AT&C losses. “The franchisee concept in power distribution is most acceptable and tangible plan for that.” The Commissioner believes outsourcing of power distribution would also generate employment for engineers and technicians.
Meanwhile the PDD is organizing the second phase of 3-day training program on Franchisee from July 25 at the college auditorium. The program is the joint effort of Central Institution for Rural Electrification, Hyderabad, Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd (REC), Ministry of Power GOI and JKPDD.
The workshop will be conducted by the trainers AK Bhagat, L Radhakrishnan and coordinated by HS Kala.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST