Report of Indian Institute of Public Administration ... - Ministry of Power

Andhra Pradesh
4.1.4 Way Forward
The generation wing of APSEB was performing well even before restructuring.
The overall performance of APGENCO has further improved during the last
five years. Vijayawada Thermal Power Station and Rayalaseema Thermal
Power Station have won national level awards for best performance several
times in the last ten years. However, sustained efforts are required to maintain
the performance levels. The way forward for the generation company is:
(i) Restoring the post of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD). The
post was recently split into two positions and the Principal Secretary
(Energy) was made the Chairman of APGENCO. Another officer of the
administrative services was posted as Managing Director. The position of
CMD was created in line with that of the Central power Utilities, as part
of the power sector reforms, and splitting it would not serve the purpose;
(ii) Appointment of an experienced and competent generation specialist
as chairman and managing director. After the post of CMD was split
up the position of managing director has been filled by an officer of the
administrative service. Power generation is a highly technical field and
requires to be headed by a generation specialist, who has the experience
and knowledge of the intricate problems of power generation. There is no
dearth of such specialists;
(iii) Originally, there was only one PPA between APGENCO and
APTRANSCO and the billing was based on the overall cost per unit
delivered. The same procedure is continuing even now. There is a need
to have station-wise PPAs structured and entered into with the DISCOMs;
and
iv) There is scope for further reduction in the percentage of auxiliary
consumption (which is above nine per cent at present).
4.2 TRANSMISSION
As already mentioned, the transmission and distribution assets were initially
vested with APTRANSCO at the time of restructuring in 1999. Subsequently in
2002, the distribution business was separated with the creation of four
DISCOMs. Again in June 2005, the bulk supply business was transferred from
APTRANSCO, leaving only transmission and load dispatch functions under its
control. The bulk supply transactions at present are handled directly by the four
DISCOMs. In due course, the load dispatch function would get separated and
1.30