UPPCL chief asks discoms to improve performance
LUCKNOW: Union power minister RK Singh will hold a high-level meeting here on Thursday to review the state’s power sector, especially with regard to the ongoing Saubhagya scheme.
On Wednesday, UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) chairman and principal secretary (energy) Alok Kumar has asked discoms to ensure power connections in the state are metered by December 2019, to improve financial and operational performance by reducing losses through various measures including 100% metering of consumers.
Kumar wrote a letter to all the five discom managing directors in the backdrop of the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) giving a poor rating to UP’s discoms in the recent All-India Integrated Survey 2016-17.
In the letter, he regretted that except KESCO, all other discoms have got a C grade that meant poor commercial and financial
›
Energy minister Shrikant Sharma has viewed the matter very seriously and wants all discoms to improve their ratings in the next surveys for 201718 and 20182019
ALOK KUMAR, UPPCL chairman
performance. KESCO’s performance has been rated as below average but not poor.
“Energy minister Shrikant Sharma has viewed the matter very seriously and wants all discoms to improve their ratings in the next surveys for 2017-18 and 2018-2019,” he said.
The UPPCL had recently asked its UDAY (Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana) consultant to identify key areas that UP Discoms needed to work in.
Highlighting those areas, Kumar asked discoms to install meters on all unmetered premises by December this year, enhance billing and collection efficiency to 99% or more, ensure operation and maintenance cost was not more than 2% and establishment cost not more than 5%.
“The focus of union power minister RK Singh’s meeting is on the Saubhagya scheme, under which we are supposed to provide electricity connections to each household in the state by March 2019,” a senior UPPCL official said.
UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad president Awadhesh Kumar Verma on Friday met energy minister Shrikant Sharma and requested him to provide cheaper and affordable power to the poor who were being given electricity connections under the Saubhagya scheme.
He requested the minister to put forward his (Verma’s) suggestion at the meeting to be chaired by the union power minister.