Gujarat tops power distribution companies annual ranking again

For the sixth year in a row, the power distribution companies (discoms) of Gujarat have topped the annual ranking procedure performed by the Union Ministry of Power. At the same time, four out of five discoms of Uttar Pradesh (UP) have not moved out of the lowest grade, said the report on ‘State Distribution Utilities Annual Integrated Rating’ for 2016-17.

These rankings hold more importance now as the financially beleaguered discoms are undergoing restructuring with Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana reforms and taking up several flagship schemes to improve power quality and supply. Four discoms of Gujarat and Uttarakhand Power Corporation, which have been lauded for continuous improvement in AT&C (aggregate technical & commercial) losses, along with healthy bill collection efficiency of 103 per cent with no reliance on state Budget, are in the top grade.

From UP, Kanpur Electricity Supply Company (Kesco) showed marked improvement, moving up to B grade from C last year. Along with all the four discoms of Gujarat, Kesco was the best performer on cost coverage ratio, said the report reviewed by Business Standard. For other UP discoms, the concerns were weak financials, high aggregate technical & commercial (AT&C) losses, and negative net worth due to sustained losses. All the three discoms of Rajasthan are in the B rank category due to high power purchase costs and low bill collection efficiency.