Opinion Positioning for our future

Delhi was the second state after Orissa to reform the power sector by privatising electricity distribution in 2002,with three distribution companies taking the place of a public sector monopoly. In a process of competitive bidding,the NDPL in its winning bid made a commitment to reduce the power theft/inefficiencies (euphemistically referred to as aggregate technical and commercial losses) from 53 per cent in July 2002 to 31 per cent by 2006-07. In the event,the reduction in losses overshot the target,and the losses stood at 23.7 per cent in 2006-07. They have since been reduced further and now stand at 13.2 per cent,compared with 27 per cent at the all-India level.

NDPL was able to improve service delivery,for example,by reducing the time taken to get a new connection (from 15 days to two days) or the waiting time for restoration of service (from an average of three hours to one hour),as a direct result of an integrated approach that combines better information attained through GIS maps with IT applications.

It began with the GIS mapping of the network which was completed by end-2006. GIS maps were digitised using the satellite images and field surveys of the network,including distribution transformers and other assets,land base covering the licensed area,as well as the data on customers. The mapping of assets helps the company to identify the route of the network for fastest rectification of any fault. It also leads to saving on the extra length of cables that were “used” in the absence of proper verification of the actual need.

The GIS mapping of customers and IT also helps identify theft because it allows the company to trace the actual customers connected to specific distribution transformers. The data on electricity passing through individual transformers can be compared with the data on electricity billed to the households connected to the transformers,to provide an accurate indication of the level of electricity lost for each transformer. Large deviations from normal loss levels give an indication of where “theft” may be occurring. As Arunabha Basu from NDPL put it,“GIS converts complexity to simplicity.”

NDPL has innovatively interfaced and integrated GIS with its other enterprise systems which cover its key business processes. The GIS mapping work was supplemented with GIS applications that were developed and implemented in 2008. NDPL now manages network upgradation with GIS,which reduces field visits for data collection. Any changes made in the network (like new connections,new transformers,replacement of old transformers,etc.) are concurrently updated for all users — consumers,linemen,metre readers and those attending to complaints.

GIS information is interfaced with SAP (Systeme Anwendungen Produkte),an enterprise resource package software that controls financials,human resources,plant maintenance,billing,and material and project systems management at NDPL. All SAP modules are interconnected,which makes real-time reporting possible. Thus,geo-referenced location of each asset of NDPL is integrated with plant maintenance modules of SAP for preventive maintenance of the system. The Outage Management System is integrated with GIS such that,on receipt of a complaint,the person handling an outage checks with the application as to which feeder is at fault and how many customers are affected. This helps in immediate fault rectification.

GIS mapping of customers not only helps with accurate billing but also helps detect a defaulter trying to get a new connection on the same premises after having been disconnected once for non-payment.

The total cost of the new technology was Rs 4 crore,and this investment is perceived to be tariff-neutral by the management. As Sunil Wadhwa,MD of NDPL put it,“the payback period is very short. The saving has been of the order of Rs 2 crore per year.”

In recognition of these achievements,in 2008,NDPL received the coveted Edison award from the Thomas Edison Institute in Washington DC,for its innovative use of GIS in its distribution business. The institute,an 85-year-old organisation,recognises one utility from within and one from outside the US every year for something innovative done in the power sector.

Most cities and towns of India suffer from power shortages,power theft,loadshedding and a highly dysfunctional power distribution system. If NDPL can do it,why not others?

The writer is chairperson of ICRIER and also former chairperson of the high-powered expert committee on urban infrastructure services