Power Minister to focus on transmission and distribution

Vowing to end the misery in the electricity sector, new Power Minister Piyush Goyal has set transmission and distribution as his focus areas and is working to bring states on board for reforms.

As much as 30% of the power generated in India is lost during transmission and distribution.

In some areas, power does not reach users -- even when it is available -- due to the lack of transmission capacity, most recently demonstrated when a storm snapped lines and caused long outages in the national capital.

Sources in power ministry said BJP-ruled Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh have agreed to work with the Centre to reform the transmission and distribution sector.

Goyal is likely to visit these states soon to ascertain their demands in the power sector and how the central government can provide the requisite assistance.

The minister views transmission and distribution of electricity to the end consumer as the major challenges, rather than generation of power.

The installed capacity of power stations in the country was 2,48,509.63 MW at the end of May, according to data on the Central Electricity Authority website. Rajasthan had 14,945.68 MW and Andhra Pradesh 17,731.07 MW.

"Now, the country has enough generation capacity. What is needed is operationally efficient and financially healthy transmission and distribution utilities. Government is absolutely right in focusing on T&D segment," said Debasish Mishra, Senior Director at Deloitte India.

The liberalisation of the power sector in 1991 by the then government did not take off due to the lacklustre performance of state electricity boards in the distribution and transmission segment, Mishra added.

Goyal visited Gujarat earlier this month to understand the state's success story. He met the state's Energy Minister Saurabh Patel and studied the Jyotigram Yojana, which aims at providing 24x7 electricity to all villages of Gujarat.