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

Karnataka
The political will to successfully implement the reform efforts, which was visible
in the initial period of the reform, does not appear to been sustained thereafter.
Power sector reforms can succeed to a considerable degree only when there is a
strong political will.
However, there are several positive gains arising from the restructuring of KEB. These
include the following:
(i) Viable Enterprises: The functionally oriented, smaller companies formed out
of KEB are more viable to manage and offer scope for better management
control and efficiency.
(ii) Reduction in losses: There has been gradual and steady reduction in the
AT&C losses of the new companies.
(iii) Financial sustainability:
• Two of the five distribution companies are comparatively sustainable in
terms of financial viability. The new companies are paying more attention
to billing and collection, which will have direct impact on their financial
results.
• The system of engaging Grama Vidyut Pratinidhis for collecting the dues
in rural areas, and the practice being adopted to outsource the billing and
collection process will go to improve the revenue base. Increasing
computerisation of billing and collection tasks by DISCOMs, especially
by BESCOM, is also paying dividends. The short point is that after
restructuring, the smaller entities are able to devote more time and
attention to revenue realisation.
(iv) Metering Progress: There has been significant progress in metering all
installations, except for the IP sets. In their case also, despite the political
overtones, there have been appreciable efforts to extend the metering exercise,
though with limited success.
v) Customer satisfaction: The customer satisfaction level has surely gone up.
The CEOs of the DISCOMs, especially in Bangalore, has shown considerable
interest to receive complainants personally, and to solve their problems. They
have also established appropriate grievance redressal mechanisms, to look into
customers’ complaints. The independent studies carried out by a Civil Society
3.41