The Review Planning & Monitoring (RPM) meeting with States and State Power Utilities was held on August 5, 2022, under the chairmanship of Union power minister R.K. Singh.
The meeting deliberated on several issues of national importance in the power sector with underpinnings of sectoral viability and sustainability, building upon the Prime Minister’s address on July 30, 2022 on the occasion of Ujjwal Bharat Ujjwal Bhavishya celebrations.
These included:
- liquidation of Government Department electricity dues and subsidy dues
- progress on prepaid Smart metering in Government departments
- establishing robust systems of Energy accounting and subsidy accounting and timely and advance payments thereof
- timely fixation of regular and true-up tariffs
- timely finalisation of Utility accounts
- Progress of Feeder & DT metering
- progress on Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS)
- compliance in regard to Electricity (Late Payment Surcharge and Related Matters) Rules, 2022.
The meeting also witnessed the launch of the following:
- 10th Integrated Rating of Power Distribution Utilities
- 1st Consumer Service Rating of discoms
- Bharat eSmart Mobile Application (BeSMA).
Integrated Rating
Integrated Rating exercise is being carried out annually since 2012 with the aim of evaluating performance of utilities on a range of parameters covering financial sustainability, performance excellence and external environment and their ability to sustain improvements year over year. The methodology for the rating has been comprehensively reviewed and revised in the current rating exercise, which is the 10th one in the series.
The rating now lays a higher emphasis on financial performance, while also assessing operational efficiencies and external ecosystem of discoms. The rating will now be dynamic in nature based on triggers having impact on discom financials. Private discoms and State Power Departments have also been included for comprehensive sectoral coverage.
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Consumer Service Rating of Discoms
The power minister also launched the first ever Consumer Service Rating of Discoms (CSRD) for the FY2020-21. The report captures the current status of consumer services across various discoms. It delves into key parameters of consumer services such as operational reliability, connection services, metering, billing and collection services, fault rectification and grievance redressal. The discoms have been rated across various identified parameters on a seven-point scale. The intent is to enable sharing of best practices of top performing discoms as well as to help other discoms in identifying critical areas for enhancing performance.
BeSMA
As a step towards enhancing consumer empowerment, a free-to-use mobile app for prepaid smart meters was also launched for the nationwide rollout of smart metering. Called “Bharat eSmart Mobile Application (BeSMA),” this mobile app would build up on the data of the Smart meters and would provide essential information to consumers in regard to their usage and balance electricity remaining, both in terms of units and monetary terms. The app would enable consumers to access real time information pertaining to their electricity usage and receive alerts & notifications. The app provides multiple options and gateways like UPI, net banking, credit/debit card etc. for payment and recharge through mobile phones with ease.
Featured photograph sourced from Press Information Bureau (PIB)
