Gujarat, Odisha power discoms lead this year's performance rankings

Gujarat's power utilities and Odisha's private discoms emerged as top performers in the latest power ministry rankings, while utilities in Telangana and Jharkhand featured among the weakest performers

Gujarat’s power distribution utilities emerged as top performers in the 14th Integrated Rating and Ranking Report released by the power ministry on Friday. Four of the state discoms in Gujarat have made it to the top 10. Odisha’s private utilities are also among the best performers. 

The rankings cover 65 of the total 72 public and private power utilities, and power departments. This year, 31 utilities have been rated as A+ or A. Among the utilities that have been rated, 44 are state-owned discoms, 12 are private discoms and 11 are power departments. 

Meanwhile, 22 utilities, including 18 discoms and four power departments in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra have been upgraded. 

Ten utilities, including ni­ne discoms and one power department in Haryana, Ra­jasthan, Karnataka and Arunachal Pradesh have been downgraded in the latest ranking. Four discoms have bagged C- ranking, including state owned Bescom in Karnataka, two Telangana discoms and one utility from Jharkhand. 

The power ministry’s rating report also pegged the accumulated losses of discoms at ₹6.47 trillion and total borrowings at ₹7.26 trillion at the end of financial year 2024-25. In the previous fiscal (2023-24), the accumulated losses stood at ₹6.91 trillion and the discoms had total borrowings of ₹7.58 trillion. 

“Prepaid smart metering brings financial discipline, and a lot of data can be collected. Some states such as Assam and Bihar, which have taken the lead in the smart metering, witnessed improved billing and collections,” said former power secretary Alok Kumar, who is also the Director General of all India Discom Association.