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

State Reports (Vol.-III)
Study on `Impact of Restructuring of SEBs’
been made to reduce subsidies. Since the SERCs are in place, the various stakeholders
have been able to have a level playing field. As the Commission gains in importance,
it would inspire greater faith and confidence among the stakeholders. The EA, 2003
envisages a more proactive role for the Commission. Instead of acting merely as a
judicial Court, it will have to more aggressively promote the basic agenda
envisaged in the EA, 2003, the National Electricity Policy and the National Tariff
Policy. In a nutshell, the setting up of the SERCs is a major achievement of the power
sector reforms.
PERFORMANCE OF RESTRUCTURED UTILITIES
The generation and transmission wings were performing quite well in the prerestructuring
period and are continuing their excellent record even now. The
performance of the DISCOMs, however, has shown no improvement rather there
seems to be a decline. The T&D losses have increased. Electricity theft goes on
unabated. In matters of agricultural connections, the DISCOMs administration is
unable to resist the Government pressure. The administrative control of the top
management has slackened with the greater involvement of the Government in
the day-to-day functioning of the DISCOMs. Instead of distancing itself from the
routine administration of the utilities, the Government presence has increased
manifold. With frequent changes, the top officials including the MDs are unable to
take a long-term perspective. A lot of funds have been pumped in the system but it
seems that the outcome is not commensurate with the investment made. The
establishment cost has gone up after restructuring. There is lot of duplicacy of work.
Instead of a single tender being floated by RSEB, now the five companies issue
tenders separately, despatch separate teams for inspection and place separate orders.
In the unified Utility, what was being done by a team headed by a Chief Engineer is
now being done by a Superintending Engineer or may be even below. The problems
of the power companies with almost 65 lakh consumers are basically field level
problems, and they require field level solutions.
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