Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML) topped the country’s 71 electricity distribution companies for its overall governance including financial sustainability, performance excellence and external environment, a release by AEML said.
In the Ministry of Power’s 11th edition of the ‘Annual Integrated Rating & Ranking’ of country’s power distribution utilities, Adani Electricity secured the 1st rank with Grade A+ and the highest integrated score of 99.6 out of 100. The rating report, published on April 10, 2023, is prepared by McKinsey & Company and the assessment is based on the accounts of the past three financial years, from 2019-2020 to 2022-2023.
Adani Electricity secured the 1st rank with Grade A+ and the highest integrated score of 99.6 out of 100.
Early this month, Adani Electricity had announced the least tariff hike among Maharashtra’s discoms for the period reviewed under the Multi-Year Tariff mechanism. This demonstrates the benefits to the end users on account of Adani Electricity’s prudent financial and operational practices.
In the exhaustive evaluation exercise, Adani Electricity emerged as the best and only private utility to be rated in the top five and is also one of 15 discoms to not have any negative marking.
Also read: AEML Vigilance Team Unearths Major Power Theft Case
Customer-centric focus
“Over the last five years, our customer centric focus has enabled us to reduce and stabilize tariffs, optimise power purchase costs and improve operational efficiencies through state-of-the-art technology interventions such as SCADA, automated workflow management and a digital first approach,” said Kandarp Patel, MD, Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd. “These efforts have made us not only Mumbai’s but one of India’s most competitive electricity providers, as recognized by the Power Finance Corporation and the Ministry of Power. This independent recognition is a testament to our commitment to serve our customers with reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity. We will continue to enhance our services and infrastructure to exceed global benchmarks. We also recommit ourselves to doubling our share of renewable energy to 60 per cent. This is our commitment to Mumbai and to all our stakeholders who have stood by us through this journey to Number One.”
Rating exercise
The Annual Integrated Rating & Ranking exercise is carried out by the nodal agency Power Finance Corporation Ltd as per the framework approved by the Ministry of Power since 2012. It covers 71 power distribution utilities comprising 45 state discoms, 14 private discoms and 12 power departments across India. The exercise provides a blueprint for stakeholders to assess performance, identify gaps, measure impact of steps taken and plan ahead.
AEML score
Adani Electricity scored 12.8 out of 13 for Performance Excellence, covering Billing Efficiency, Low Distribution Loss, Collection Efficiency and Corporate Governance. Under External Environment, Adani Electricity scored 11.9 out of 12 for subsidy realized (last 3 FYs), loss takeover by State Government, Government Dues (last 3 FYs), Tariff Cycle Timelines and Auto Pass Through of Fuel Costs.
Under Financial Sustainability, Adani Electricity scored all 75 marks for its ACS –ARR Gap (Cash adjusted), Days Receivable, Days Payable to Generation Companies, Adjusted Quick Ratio, Debt Service Coverage Ratio (Cash Adjusted) and Leverage Debt/EBITDA (Cash adjusted).
Best practices
For all the above parameters, Adani Electricity has scored in the top matrix, and the superior ranking is a result of a set of best practices in the industry, including the following:
- Digitized bill generation and payments – partnering with UPIs and payment gateways to facilitate ease of payment for the customers
- Deployment of advanced meter reading capabilities which reduces bill errors significantly
- Analytics and MIS systems to curb power thefts – stronger vigilance drives
- These efforts have led to reducing distribution losses from 9.1 per cent to 6.7 per cent over the last 2 years.
- Strong working capital management leading to the highest score for quick ratio
Featured photograph shows a disaster control centre of Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd.
