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

Synopsis of State Reports (Vol.-IV)
Study on `Impact of Restructuring of SEBs’
There has also been no noticeable growth in the 11 kV and LT network reach
and capacity, while the load and number of consumers have been growing
consistently during this period. Consequently, this has adversely impacted the
quality of supply and service to the consumers.
There has been inadequacy in the reactive compensation in transmission system
of UPPCL. The situation regarding transformation capacity and available
reactive compensation (at the end of 2004-05 is as under):
Aggregate secondary transformation
capacity
12,000 MVA (approx.)
Requirement of reactive compensation 7,200 MVAR
Installed capacity of capacitor banks 4,501 MVAR
Capacitors in working order
3,309 MVAR i.e. about 73 per cent of
the installed capacity.
Such a highly under-compensated system not only leads to low power factor
and low voltage but it also puts additional strain on the system.
Consumer Metering: At the retail consumers’ level, out of a total of 8.2
million consumer connections, only 4.6 million (about 56%) are metered at
present. Metering in the agricultural sector is almost negligible and in the
domestic sector, it is about 50 per cent. In view of this, it is clear that the
figures of consumption and consequently loss figures are not realistic. This has
also led to considerable difference of opinion between UPERC and the Utility
on the assessment of unmetered consumption and consequently, the distribution
losses. UPERC has been consistently restating the level of losses in the State on
account of its approved norms for the unmetered consumption.
Rural Electrification: As per the data available with the Ministry of Power, 42
per cent of the villages of the State are yet to be electrified. Further, the access
of electricity to rural households, as per 2001 Census, is at a dismal 19.84 per
cent against a national average of more than 40 per cent. The State sector has
however taken initiatives recently to improve rural distribution infrastructure
under the RGGVY. However, with considerable prevailing capacity shortages
even to meet the deficit in the urban areas, merely extending the electricity
lines to rural areas would not address the problem. The State would also need
to encourage the setting up of various generation schemes to derive real
benefits of these investments.
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