Tata Power has received the letter of intent (LOI) from the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for the distribution and retail supply of electricity in the distribution circles of utilities WESCO and SOUTHCO.
WESCO has five circles: Rourkela, Burla, Bhawanipatna, Bolangir, Bargargh; while SOUTHCO has six: Ganjam City, Berhampur, Aksa, Bhanjannagar, Jeypore and Rayagada.
As per conditions of bid documentation 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, a release from Tata Power said.
The licence enables Tata Power to serve the consumers of western part (WESCO) and southern part (SOUTHCO) of Odisha with geographical spread of more than 47,000 sqkm each and will manage network of more than 100,000 ckm each.
The license period for the two distribution utilities shall be 25 years. While WESCO serves close to 2 million consumers with annual input energy of 7,520 million kwh, SOUTHCO serves close to 2.3 million consumers with annual input energy of 3,470 million kwh.
With WESCO and SOUTHCO, Tata Power’s consumer base will reach 10 million consumers from the present base of 5.7 million across Mumbai, Delhi, Central part of Odisha (CESU) and Ajmer.
Commenting on this occasion Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power said, “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 including improvements in Central Odisha in a short span of time is winning the hearts of people of Odisha.”
Tata Power is committed to improve and modernize the distribution system in western and southern Odisha. The priority of the company is to improve reliability, reduce AT&C losses and offer excellent customer service, the statement said.
The company will retain all the existing employees of WESCO and SOUTHCO and their service conditions shall continue as per their existing policy structure. Tata Power will provide better opportunities and facilities to all 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 WESCO and SOUTHCO respectively
In June this year, Tata Power took control of CESU through a similar joint venture. (Read more). This joint venture has since been renamed to TP Central Odisha Distribution Ltd.
All the four discoms under OERC — CESU, WESCO, SOUTHCO and NORTHCO — were put up for privatization through the joint venture route. Tata Power has been successful in taking over three discoms. The results of the fourth (NORTHCO) are awaited. It is reliably learnt that Tata Power was the sole bidder for NORTHCO.
(Featured photograph for illustration only)
