Mr Gandhi Babu, former CEO, SOUTHCO

Mr Gandhi Babu narrated the Best Practices in Service Delivery and Standards of Performance in AP Power Sector in a very lucid manner.
Consumer Service Initiatives taken up by APERC:
The four Power Distribution Companies in Andhra Pradesh have released the Citizens’ Charter in the year 2002 wherein they have publicly provided assurance to the consumers with regard to various utility services as mentioned below:
 Restoration of Power Supply
 Quality of Power Supply
 Metering Problems
 Billing discrepancies
 Release of New Service Connections
 Title Transfer and Conversion of Services
 Disconnection & Re connection of Power Supply
 Implementation of Scheduled Outages
 Establishment of Customer Call Centers in all the Cities, Municipal Towns and Semi Urban areas. Standards of redressal are notified.
 In Municipal Towns and Cities these Call Centers work round the clock
 Semi Urban areas and in subdivision offices. Standards of service are notified
 Established exclusive service centre at corporate office for the reddressal of HT consumers grievances
 Spot Billing was introduced for all the Low Tension consumers across all the state since July 2002.
 Automatic meter reading for HT consumers and sending bills through FAX , SMS and also made available in the Internet.
 Multiple bill payment options introduced contrary to the earlier practice of payment at Electricity Revenue Office counters.
 Payment of Electricity Bills through e Seva. (A state Govt promoted centers undertaking payment of all kind of citizen services bills) centers
 Payment of electricity bills through internet.
 Payment of electricity bills through Banks
 Payment of Electricity Bills through Cheque Drop Boxes
 Electronic Clearing via Bank Accounts
 Payment through Credit Cards.
 e varadhi to know the bill amounts.
Interactive TV channel in cities and district head quarters to know about the interruptions, billing details and to lodge consumer complaints.
 Operation of Call Centers is totally outsourced to have the independence in operation and monitoring.
 Proven software is installed and the tracking and monitoring is systematically done.
 Compliance monitoring of complaints with respect to the standards of performance prescribed by the Hon’ble APERC is done on a periodical basis and appropriate action is taken in case of deviations.
 Taking of feedback from the consumers upon redressal of the complaint.
 Third party verification of the service level rendered to the consumers.
 Conducting of Vidyuth Adalats at section offices every Monday, there by on the spot disposal of complaints is undertaken.
 Vide publicity is given to increase the awareness in public on the services provided by the utility.
 Informing the consumers about the pre-arranged shutdowns through SMS to their Mobile Phones.
 Educating the paying Agricultural consumers about effectiveness of Demand side management (DSM) measures, there by reduction in their power bills.
 Capacitors made available at section offices for the purpose of avoiding middle men and duplicate/spurious capacitors in purchasing the capacitors by the farmers for their pump sets.
 Conducting Sub-Station wise meetings with farmers and public representatives once in every month to resolve their grievances if any..
 Providing service connection on demand in urban areas.
 Regularising un-authorized additional loads and services in agriculture sector.
 Conducting meeting with existing and prospective HT consumers meet every month at circle level to resolve their grievances and guide prospective H.T consumers
 Conducting meeting with existing and prospective HT consumers having CMD of 1 MVA and above every month at corporate office level to resolve their grievances if any.
 Implementing SAP.
 Proposed to supply Compact Fluorescent Lamps at free of cost to the consumers under electricity conservation.
 Meetings with consumer’s representatives and NGO’s.
 Proposed GIS based consumer indexing for better consumer service.
 Providing service connections to all the people under below poverty line at the cost of Rs.125 /- under RGGVY schemes.
 General Manager post is created exclusively for consumer services under the control of Chief General Manager (Operations & Customer service).
 Online monitoring of performance of customer service centers by the top management.
Established Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum (GRF).
 Conducting consumer day celebrations to create awareness among consumers about the services rendered by the utilities.
 Safety measures adoption:- Creating awareness about safety among the consumers and staff.
the above initiatives have been made possible with the help of Information Technology. IT has been employed in all aspects of Metering, Billing, Collection & Complaints handling etc.
Steps taken to improve the Quality of supply:
 Separate 11KV and 33KV industrial Express feeders provided to maintain reliable power supply to the industrial consumers.
 Implementing HVDS Scheme for 11KV feeders having predominantly Agriculture services.
 Segregation of Agriculture feeders.
Steps taken On 33KV Side:
 Parallel operation of PTRs and proper Tap position of OLTC to maintain voltages within limits.
 Erection of capacitor banks at 33/11KV Sub-Stations.
 Proposing new feeder if more than 03 Sub-stations are existing on the feeder.
 Laying of parallel feeder, for load exceeding 250 Amps on the feeder or length
 Of feeder exceeds 30 Km.
 Interlinking of lines.
 Shifting of 33KV Feeder to the nearest EHT sub-station.
 Replacement of lower size conductor if it is less than 100 Sqmm.
 Replacement of worn out / damaged portion of the conductor.
 Rectification of loose terminations in AB switches, jumpers & replacement of
 damaged Insulators, etc.
 Proper tree clearances.
 Preventive maintenance on 33KV Feeders.
 Provided no of Sub-Stations under different sche
 Implementing SCADA in cities.
Steps taken On 11KV Side:
 Shifting of 11KV Feeder to the nearest available source.
 Releaving overloading on Feeders by bifurcating / interlinking of lines (Either Load > 100 Amps or length >25 Km in rural areas and Load > 200 Amps in Urban areas)
 Replacement of worn out / damaged portion of the conductor.
 Providing 3 Phase DTRs in place of existing single phase DTRs
 Fixing of adequate capacitors on LV side of the DTRs
 Providing 100 Sqmm conductor for 11KV urban feeders and 55 Sqmm for rural feeders
 Rectification of defective AB switches and loose Jumpers, lines & DTRs (R&M works)
 Providing One VCB per feeder
 Provided No of additional DTRs to cater to the loads and releaving over loaded
 DTRs thereby eradicating low voltage problem.
Steps taken On LT Side:
 Load balancing of DTRs and feeders
 Preventive maintenance on DTR structures and LT Lines
 Releaving overloaded DTRs by providing high capacity DTRs
 Running 2nd LT circuit for 63 KVA & 100 KVA DTRs, 3 Ckts for 160 KVA
 DTRs , 4 Ckts for 250 KVA DTRs and above.
 Replaced 1 phase 3 wire with 3 Phase 5 Wire, where normal load balancing is
 Unachievable.
 Provided AB Cable where the Clearances are less and in theft prone areas.
 Pole mounted distribution boxes for group of services to reduce fuse off calls.
 Shifting of meters to out side the premises with department cost to avoid
 Inconvenience while taking meter readings.
Standards of Performance Regulation
Standards of performance regulation have been followed by the Distribution Companies along with the compensation payable to consumers in case of default. The percentage compliance in respect of Supply related complaints is about 95%, and for Metering & Billing related complaints 92% and in respect of release of new service connections in time it is about 98% for the year 2005-06.
Mode of payment of compensation:
 The Licensee shall register every complaint of a consumer regarding failure of power supply, quality of power supply, meters and payment of bills etc., at the customer service centers of each section and intimate the complaint number to the consumer.
 The Licensee shall maintain consumer-wise records regarding the guaranteed standards of performance in order to give a fair treatment to all consumers and avoid any dispute regarding violation of standard.
 All payments of compensation shall be made by way of adjustment against current and/or future bills for supply of electricity, but not later than 90 days from the date of violation of a Guaranteed Standard.
 If the Licensee, however, fails to disburse the compensation amount as laid out in paragraph 3 above the aggrieved consumer(s) can approach the Forum for redressal of grievances of consumers to seek such compensation.
Overall Standards of Performance in AP
 Normal fuse-off calls: The Licensee shall maintain the percentage of fuse-off calls rectified within the time limits prescribed under sub-paragraph 1.1 of Schedule-I to total calls received at a value not less than 99%.

Line Breakdowns: In case of line breakdowns, the Licensee shall ensure restoration of power supply within 6 hours of occurrence of breakdown in towns and cities and within 24 hours of occurrence of breakdown in rural areas. The Licensee shall achieve this standard of performance in at least 95% of the cases.

 Distribution Transformer Failures: The Licensee shall maintain the percentage of distribution transformers replaced within the time limits prescribed for the total distribution transformers failed at a value not less than 95%.

 Period of scheduled outages: As specified in sub-paragraph 1.5 of Schedule-I, interruption in power supply due to scheduled outages, other than the load-shedding, has to be notified in advance and shall not exceed 12 hours in a day and in each such event, the Licensee has to ensure that the supply is restored by 6:00PM. The Licensee shall achieve both of these standards of performance in at least 95% of the cases.

Street Light faults
 The Licensee shall rectify line faults and restore streetlights within 24 hours of detection or receipt of complaint, whichever is earlier, and shall achieve this standard of performance in at least 90% of the cases.

 In case of a fused light or defective unit, the Licensee, wherever responsible for maintenance of street lights, shall replace the light or rectify/replace the unit within 24 hours of detection or receipt of complaint, whichever is earlier, and shall achieve these standards of performance in at least 90% of the cases.
 Reliability Indices
The licensees follow the following reliability indices:
 System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI):
 System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI):
 Momentary Average Interruption Frequency Index (MAIFI

 Frequency variations: The Licensee shall achieve coordination with other network constituents such as State Transmission Utility, State Load Dispatch Center, distribution Licensees and other transmission Licensees in an endeavor to maintain the supply frequency as per the Indian Electricity Grid Code (the present values being between 49.0 and 50.5 Hz), as amended from time to time.

 Voltage Unbalance: The Licensee shall ensure that the voltage unbalance does not exceed 3% at the point of commencement of supply.

 Billing mistakes: The Licensee shall maintain the percentage of bills requiring modifications following complaints to the total number of bills issued, at a value not greater than 0.1%.
 Faulty meters: The Licensee shall maintain the percentage of defective meters to the total number of meters in service, at a value not greater than 3%.

 The Summary of Overall performance standards is as follows:
Service area Overall Standard of Performance

 

Explicit focus on the poor
 Pro-poor Policy should be framed.
 Instruments such as subsidies and lifeline tariffs can be helpful.
 Tariff design must take account of the ability of poorer households to pay.