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

Andhra Pradesh
publicity campaign undertaken by the APSEB to educate the public on the need
for reforms. The policy statement of the Government clearly indicated that
steps would also be taken to promote private sector participation in distribution.
It reflected strong political support to the power sector reforms. No wonder, the
process of implementation of the power sector reforms and restructuring was
carried out smoothly with least resistance from the employees.
1.3.2 Planning and Consultants Support
The policy statement of the Government provided the general outline of the
proposed reforms and the changes contemplated in the organisational structure.
Detailed analysis of issues involved, planning and implementation of various
steps in the reform process were carried out by the specially created Reforms
Cell with the active support of the Government and the APSEB. Valuable
inputs provided by the national and international consultants helped in
resolving issues at various stages of the reform process. ‘. As major chunk of
the ‘Technical Assistance’ support was through grants, there was not much
financial burden on the State for receiving the consultancy support.
Good consultancy support in the initial phase of reform process is an essential
requirement for the success of the reforms. It was available for Andhra Pradesh
through ICICI (financial restructuring), SNC Lavalin (technical fields such as
load forecasting, generation planning, load flow studies, transmission planning,
etc.), PricewaterhouseCoopers (organisational structures, human resources,
etc.) Arthur Anderson (institutional development) and National Economic
Research Associates, USA (assistance to the Regulatory Commission).
1.3.3 Impact of Electricity Regulatory Commission
The regulatory process is a very vital element of the reform and restructuring
process of the power sector. Establishment of an independent Regulatory
Commission is essential not only to exercise regulatory control but also to
bring in the necessary co-ordination between different entities/players created
in the process of restructuring.
APERC came into existence w.e.f. 1 April 1999. The Commission took control
of regulating the power sector in right earnest. Measures taken by APERC,
which had impacted the State power sector are:
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