Tata Power has taken over the management of CESU, after receiving the Letter of Intent (LOI) from the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for the distribution and retail supply of electricity in Odisha’s five circles.
As per order issued by the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) on May 28, 2020, Tata Power will hold 51 per cent equity with management control and the state-owned GRIDCO will have the remaining 49 per cent equity stake in the company.
All existing CESU employees will be retained
Tata Power has committed to improve and modernise the distribution system in the five circles— Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Puri, Paradip and Dhenkanal. The priority of the company is to improve reliability, reduce AT&C losses and offer excellent customer service. As per the agreement, the company will retain all the existing employees of CESU and will govern them by their existing policy structure. Tata Power will provide better opportunities and facilities to the employees to update their knowledge and skills along with an exposure to best practices and cutting edge technologies as a part of change management in CESU.
Also See: Pursuing the distribution licencee model: A special story by T&D India (February 2020)
Commenting on this occasion Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power said, “Our tie up with CESU is a huge development for Tata Power. We are thankful to the Odisha Government and OERC for giving us this opportunity. We are committed to provide reliable, affordable and quality power supply along with superior customer service, backed by innovative technology. We constantly strive to become the most preferred distribution company in the country. The success of our Delhi, Mumbai and Ajmer Distribution businesses are testament to this fact.”
“Tata Power endeavors to bring about a positive transformation in Odisha by deploying smart grid technologies to supply reliable and quality power. Our customer-centric approach aims to enhance all aspects of customer services with smooth and efficient power distribution operations.” said Sanjay Banga, President – T &D, Tata Power.
The Tata Power-GRIDCO joint venture represents a public-private partnership in Odisha’s power distribution sector, and a renewed attempt at privatizing power distribution in Odisha.
Tata Power has received a license for 25 years. Spread over 30,000 sqkm, CESU has five electrical circles comprising of the areas of Bhubaneswar (Electrical Circle – I and II), Cuttack, Paradip and Dhenkanal with a population of over 1.4 crore and consumer base of 2.5 million. With CESU, Tata Power aims to expand its consumer base to 5 million consumers from the present base of 2.5 million across Mumbai, Delhi and Ajmer.
The average demand of CESU is around 1,300MW with the annual input energy of 8,400MUs (FY 2018).
By successfully transforming Delhi and Ajmer to become customer-centric organisations within a short span of time, Tata Power has been able reduce the AT&C losses from 53.1 per cent (July 2002) to less than 8 per cent (March 2019) in Delhi, and from 21.6 per cent (July 2017) to less than 10 per cent (August 2019) in Ajmer.
