Two northeastern states have become the first ones to submit their detailed proposals under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).
A government release said that the governments of Assam and Meghalaya have become frontrunners in planning their operational and financial reforms, including the underlying works to accomplish the same, under the RDSS.
The state-level Distribution Reforms Committee (DRC) and the state cabinets have approved the RDSS proposals, and the same have been submitted to nodal agency REC Ltd. (formerly Rural Electrification Ltd). It is learnt that REC, and other government entities involved, will now study the action plans and the detailed project reports, submitted by the two northeastern states.
The government release noted that 39 out of the 55 beneficiary state government discoms are in active discussion with nodal agencies to finalize their draft proposals. The remaining discoms are expected to send their draft proposals shortly, the release said.
RDSS Outlay
The Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) has an outlay of Rs.3,03,758 crore with an estimated budgetary support from Central Government of Rs.97,631 crore, which would be available till FY26. The assistance is reforms linked and will be based on meeting pre-qualifying criteria as well as upon achievement of performance benchmarks by discoms evaluated based on an agreed and customised evaluation framework tied to financial and operational improvements.
Objective
The overall objective of RDSS is to improve operational efficiency and financial sustainability of state discoms and strengthening of power distribution infrastructure. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality and reliability of power supplied to the end-consumer.
Action Plan
The action plans from states would typically include several measures aimed at reduction in technical and commercial losses. Some such actionable measures would be: implementation of smart prepaid metering of majority of their consumer base; 100 per cent feeder level energy accounting by FY23; reconductoring of old/frayed conductors; conversion to LT ABC; segregation of agriculture feeders; upgrade of billing and other IT/OT systems; etc.
