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

DISTRIBUTION
Introduction
State Reports (Vol.-III)
Study on `Impact of Restructuring of SEBs’
The State is facing a large scale load shedding due to inadequate generating capacity.
MSEDCL is also confronted with a number of daunting tasks in its operations. A
number of actions have been initiated by MSEDCL to effectively deal with these
tasks. Three important areas, as noted below, which will have significant impact on
the health and operations of the Utility, have been selected to look for signs of
improvement.
Demand Management
To mitigate hardships to consumers on account of load shedding, reducing the peak
demand through Demand Side Management (DSM) provides a useful tool. A number
of schemes like single phasing, Gaothan feeder separation, installation of capacitors
on DTC and agricultural pump-motors are taken up in hand.
Most noteworthy amongst these however, is the innovative scheme of 'Akshay
Prakash Yojana' (APY). MSEDCL has achieved commendable success in getting load
relief in peak demand from rural areas under this scheme. The programme rests on
collective responsibility of the inhabitants of the village and is carried out voluntarily.
The scheme envisages that the Village Body (Gram Sabha) passes a resolution to
participate in the scheme. Villagers restrict the use of any 3-phase load during 5 p.m.
to 5 a.m. Only lighting load is used in this period and the load on the feeder is
restricted to 20 per cent of the full load recorded earlier. These load restrictions are
supplemented by removing unauthorised heavy consumption devices such as heaters,
hot plates and hooks on the distribution lines. The scheme envisages adoption of
energy saving lighting and use of capacitors on motors. Veej Dakshata Committees or
Surveillance Committees are formed by the villagers for monitoring use of electricity
and for supervising removal of unauthorised connections. Patrols are organised by
villagers to uncover theft of electricity and all consumers voluntarily adopt metered
connections. These villages are totally exempted from daily load shedding and enjoy
supply for 23 hours a day.
The success of the scheme is phenomenal and has turned into a social movement. The
penetration of the scheme is facilitated through visual impact of APY villages on non-
APY villages. In a short span of less than one year 3,400 villages have joined the
scheme giving a load relief of 772 MW, which will help in reducing distribution
losses as well as improving services to the consumers. More important than the load
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