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

1 INTRODUCTION
ASSAM
RESTRUCTURING EXERCISE
The Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) was established in the year 1958 in
the composite State of Assam under the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948. The
ASEB has been restructured in September 2003 into five companies by
separating the generation, transmission and distribution functions. Assam has
an area of 78,438 sq km and a population of 26.6 million. The State is divided
into 28 districts comprising of 87 towns and 26,247 villages, as per the 2001
Census. The State is largely agrarian with 87 per cent of the population being
rural. About 63 per cent of its population is engaged in agriculture and tea
plantation. The ASEB and its restructured utilities serve about one million
consumers of whom more than half are in rural areas. The population is spread
over a large geographical area and the power sector has grown on the State’s
natural resources of oil, natural gas and hydropower in the northeast. The
generation, transmission and distribution sectors have been facing problems of
inadequate capacity, inadequate investments and also operational problems due
to poor maintenance and lack of fuel. The combination of various factors has
adversely impacted electricity supply in the State.
2 BACKGROUND
(a) Generating Capacity
The installed capacity of ASEB stands at 575 MW out of which 2 MW is
hydel, 300 MW, thermal and 273 MW, gas based. There has been no
augmentation of the installed capacity for many years. The present effective
capacity is only 150 MW. Chandrapur Thermal Power Station (60 MW) and
Bongaigaon (240 MW) have been shut down since March 2002 and June 1999
respectively due to non-availability of fuel and other operational constraints.
The total energy generated in 2005-06 was 808 million units. Assam has,
however, a share of 546 MW in the Central power stations owned by NEEPCO
and NHPC. The State has also committed to purchase the entire power
generation of DLF’s two combined cycle plants of 24.5 MW capacity. The
availability of power from these sources currently is less in the four months
from November to February. This shortfall is being met by purchasing power
from traders like PTC, etc. The plant load factor (PLF) of ASEB owned plants