Tata Power’s Odisha Discoms cut AT&C losses by 10%, becomes model at national level!!

In four years. the four distribution companies of Tata Power Co Ltd., operating in Odisha, have improved operations substantially thus becoming a model for other states to emulate, a top company executive said. The four distribution companies (Discoms) include TP Central Odisha Distribution Ltd. (TPCODL), TP Western Odisha Distribution Ltd. (TPWODL), TP Northen Odisha Distribution Ltd. (TPNODL) and TP Southern Odisha Distribution Ltd. (TPSODL). “We [TPCODL] came in 2020 and subsequently the other three discoms came in 2021. From there we have travelled a lot. If you see just one parameter which everybody looks at that is Average Technical & Commercial (AT&C) loss we [all 4 discoms] have reduced it by almost 10% collectively for the State of Odisha,” Arvind Singh, CEO, TPCODL, told The Hindu in an interview. “Reliability has improved substantially. Now, the ability to restore electricity has gone up primarily because we have got more trained manpower, lot of materials have been kept in locations and losses have reduced,” he said. So as far as consumers are concerned especially in urban areas and industrial areas, the availability of power is very high, Mr. Singh said adding even in rural areas, the availability is over 23 hours. “This is a very high number. It must be one of the best in India,” he emphasised. Since coastal Odisha is a cyclone prone area and the cyclonic storms hit with a notice of 3 hours, Tata Power has put in place a strategy for fast response and restoration of supplies. “We are much better prepared now to deal with frequent cyclones which hit the coasts in 3 hours notice. The response to the recent Cyclone Dana is the perfect example,” he said. Commenting on the overall performance he said, “Business is doing well. Even on the financial side all four discounts are making profits. That is the turnaround that has happened.” Stating that bill collection has improved to near 100% now and billing efficiency has been improving every year, he said “In every report on transmission, Odisha comes first. And this was a challenge which Tata Power took and really succeeded” “Now this is becoming a model at the national level. People in other states are looking at us as to how we did it,” he added. The discoms have adopted the best practices for safety of their employees and technology has been used extensively for efficient customer service. Climbing on poles (Monkey climbing) by employees to fix supply issues has stopped completely and unless there is a ladder and one has a full body harness, and hook oneself, no one is allowed to go. “The whole scenario has changed and now we have come a long way,” he added. Like most Tata Group companies the discoms are providing maximum emphasis on gender diversity and employing women. Some of the subdivisions are entirely manned by women in DPWODL and women are being given opportunities in diverse areas. “In traditional areas like IT, HR, administration, they’re already there. Even in technical areas, for engineering, even going to site, survey of site, we have got women employees,” Mr Singh said. A meter testing lab has an all-women team. Artificial intelligence is being used at multiple places. The discoms have got robotic process automation also. “When you apply for a connection, when a document comes, the form gets filled up on its own. And Optical Character Recognition (OCR) facility is there,” he said. Technology is being used to recognise if device is a meter or not. “The meter reader has artificial intelligence which recognizes the meter and in meter reading there no human intervention. So nobody can suppress the reading on the sheet,” he said. Sources - https://www.thehindu.com/business/tata-powers-odisha-discoms-cut-atc-losses-by-10-become-model-at-national-level/article69012904.ece