HCL to provide online solutions to UP Power Corporation

Project estimated at Rs 700 crore

IT major HCL has been awarded the contract to provide online customer service solutions to Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL).

HCL will help UPPCL implement full automation across gamut of services, such as online billing, checking metre reading and bills’ generation.

“The project has been undertaken under Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (APDRP) and the project cost is Rs 700 crore,” Corporation CMD Navneet Sehgal said addressing the media.

UP automation project is the biggest such power sector project in India, he added. UPPCL has close to 5.2 million consumers.

A Data Centre will be set up in Lucknow, and about 100 servers and 5,000 individual nodes would be installed all over the state under the project, which is likely to be implemented by the end of next fiscal.

Infosys had prepared a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the implementation of the automation solution.

UPPCL is preparing another DPR for improving its hardware infrastructure to cut line and transmission losses to 15 per cent in the next 7 years.

Meanwhile, UPPCL has almost Rs 18,000 crore pending for realisation from defaulters, especially agriculture and domestic consumers. It includes surcharges and Rs 7,000 crore pertaining to the erstwhile UP State Electricity Board (UPSEB), which was unbundled as UPPCL in 2000.

Surcharge typically constitutes almost 30-40 per cent of a pending bill. “Several such cases are pending in courts, while recovery certificates (RCs) have been issued in others,” he informed.

To realise this amount, UPPCL has announced one-time settlement scheme for the defaulters till March 31, 2010.

“Under the scheme, we have decided to waive surcharge on individual bills and are confident that Rs 6,000 crore can be realised,” Sehgal added. UPPCL has tied up with Allahabad Bank and ICICI Bank for this purpose.

“After March 31, we will compulsorily issue RCs against defaulters as per the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) guidelines,” he informed.