1.      Introduction

The availibility of reliable and inexpensive power is critical for economic development of a state. Power is one of the critical inputs for economic development and growth in power consumption is an indicator of the industrial, agricultural and commercial growth of a state. Recognising this and considering the in-adequate attention to this Sector in pre-independence era, Power Sector Development was conceived through public.

At the time of formation of the State in 1949 the installed capacity was mere 13.27 MW and electricity supply was limited to the princely States and few Towns. The Power Sector in Rajasthan received impetus after the formation of RSEB on 1^st July, 1957 and planned growth in installed capacity transmission net work and Rural Electrification took place with the State investing 28-30% of its plan out lay in the initial years in the Power Sector, so as to cover wider section of the society.

The State Grid as on March, 2005 has access to 5298 MW of installed capacity. Of this 2859 MW is exclusively owned and operated by a State Generating Company RVUN whereas the State has a share of 973 MW in the inter state partnership projects, both Hydel and Thermal, and has an allocation of 1464 MW in the Central Sector Power Stations and 286 MW from Non-Conventional Energy Sources. The Transmission and Distribution System covers a large geographical area of 3,42,000 Sq. kms., 2/3^rd of which is desert with low population density, serving over 60 lacs. Consumers from different categories. Electricity sales have been growing at an Annual average of 11%.

Till 19^th July, 2000 the Rajasthan State Electricity Board, a vertically integrated State owned utility constituted under the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948, was the sole supplier of Electricity to the Consumers of the State. However, without availability of required Government’s sub vention, RSEB had not been able to achieve the rate of return of 3% on net fixed assets after interest, as stipulated in the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948. As a result the debt burden kept on mounting and reached to a level of Rs. 5501 crs. in 1998-99 and quality of service worsened due to widening gap between demand and supply.

Govt. of Rajasthan decided to reforms its Power Sector with the objective of creating conditions for sustainable development of the Power Sector and improving efficiency and quality of service to the consumers by allowing private participation in the State Power Sector.

The Govt. of Rajasthan established Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) on 2^nd Jan., 2000 to regulate the functioning of the Power Sector on sound commercial principles, to safeguard the interests of the Consumers in respect of quality, reliability and fair price for electricity and to set cost and efficiency based tariff to ensure credit worthiness and viability of the Power Sector so as to progressively eliminate tariff distortions and subsidies. The Commission is fully functional and regulating the State Power Sector utilities.

The Govt. of Rajasthan enacted Rajasthan Power Sector Reforms Act, 1999 w.e.f. 1^st June, 2000 and accordingly the State Electricity Board was un-bundled in to five functional entities incorporated under Indian Company Act, 1956 as follow:-

¨      One Generation Company - Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. This Company owns and operates the Thermal Power Stations at Kota and Suratgarh, Gas based Power Stations and Ramgarh, Hydel Power Stations at Mahi and Mini Hydel Stations in the State.

¨      One Transmission Company - Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd. This Company owns and operates all the 400 kV, 220 kV, 132 kV and 66 kV Electricity lines and system in the State and is responsible for procuring power from different agencies for sale to different distribution companies in the State.

¨      Three Distribution Companies, Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd., Ajmer Vidyut Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. and Jodhpur Vidyut Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. These companies operates and maintains electricity system below 66 kV in their respective areas. The districts and O&M Circles of erstwhile RSEB covered under these companies are given at Table – 1

(The districts and O&M Circles under Discoms)

2.      Growth and performance

i.                    Investments

The State Govt. have made substantial allocation to the Power Sector from its plan outlay which ranges between 22.1% to 34.2% of the States Annual Plan. Table-2 gives details of the actual end percentage out lays on Power Sector.

*          Incl. of Rs. 130 Cr. for purchase of power.
**        Incl. of Rs. 150 Cr. for purchase of power and Rs. 200 Cr. against FRP

ii.                  Generation Capacity

The total generating capacity available to the State including share from partnership projects and allocations from the Central Generating Stations was 5296 MW at the end of Financial Year 2005. The details of which are as follows: -

Generation Capacity from owned/partnership Projects               3546 MW
Allocations from Central Sector Generating Stations                 1464 MW
Non-Conventional Energy Sources                                           286 MW
Total                                                                                                    5296 MW

The share of thermal energy stood at 72.% of total installed capacity. The other major source of power is hydro power, which accounts for another  26% of installed capacity. Rajasthan presently has a well defined Non Conventional Energy Policy and Wind Policy, renewable sources of energy accounts for about 5.4% of installed capacity.

In addition to this, as on March 2003, there were 16 operational captive power plants, with a combined capacity of 336.65 MW, representing captive power plants that are currently connected to the grid for parallel operation. The total installed captive power capacity for industrial and commercial consumers are estimated to be in excess of 1300 MW.

The Plant Load Factor, which is an indicator of the Generating performance of Thermal Power Stations, has reached to the level of 88% in the Year 2002-03 as compared to the all India average of 67.3%, thereby indicating efficiency in operations.

iii.                Transmission & Distribution

progress in In terms of physical capacity has been shown in Table-3

Progress in physical capacity (Contd.)

The 400 kV and 220 kV lines are normally used for power evacuation from power projects and for providing system stability. The 132 kV and 66 kV lines are expected to improve voltage regulation, quality of supply and reduce transmission and distribution losses. The percentage of LT lines (including 11 kV lines) in the total T&D network is the highest at 89.4% of all T&D lines.

iv.                Electricity consumption

The consumption of power in Rajasthan has increased from 7990.36 MU in 1990-91 to 14278.58 MU in 2001-02 . The category wise consumption is given at Table-4.

Table-5 gives an idea of the emerging trend in the shares of different categories of consumer in the total electricity consumption since 1990.

* Earlier the consumption of flat rate agriculture consumers was assesed by hrs. of supply to these consumers. From FY 2000 onwards different principle, revenue assessed converted into electricity consumption was adopted.

It can be seen from the above table that Agriculture has been the most significant consumer of power in the State. The share of Agriculture has varied between 29.06% to 40.37% during the period 1990-91 to 1999-00. Whereas the consumption of industry is stagnent during the last 5 years.

v.                  Technical efficiencies

Rajasthan has an energy deficit of 1.22%  in 2002-03 which is lower than that of the other progressive states.The peak load deficit in the state is at 5.6% in 2002-03 which is also much lower than that of the other benchmarked states.

Reported T&D losses in the state, which were close to 30% in the mid and later 90s in the state based on certain assumption of flat rate agriculture consumers using electricity for a specified period say 4 hrs. daily, have suddenly shot up to 42% on a separate computing principle of revenue converted to consumption of such consumers.

Per capita consumption of power in India i.e. 350 kwh is one of the lowest in the world and that of Rajasthan is lower than the all India average. Per capita power consumption is an indicator of the demand for power in a region. Due to industrial stagnation the demand for power in the State is low.

vi.                Costs and Tariffs

Power purchases accounted for about 50% of the total revenue expenses of the erstwhile RSEB during the nineties. Bulk of these purchases is from the Central Sector Thermal/Nuclear Generating Stations. As the cost of power from these Stations have risen significantly the increase in expenditure of power purchases was 117% against increase in power of 32% during the period 1996-97 to 2000-01. Also the Rajasthan is lacking in the natural resources such as Oil, Gas, Coal and Hydro therefore freight charges for the Cole is very high in case of Rajasthan which reflects high cost of generation in the Thermal Power Stations in the Rajasthan.

Since Rajasthan is the largest State in the Country in terms geographical area of which 2/3^rd is desert and sparsely populated with low population density of 165 person/Sq. kms., therefore the cost of supply of power to the consumers is bound to be high in case of Rajasthan.

Due to above two factors the cost of supply to the consumers in case of Rajasthan is very high as compared to other States. Table-6 shows the unit cost of power supply in Rajasthan.

The tariff structure in Rajasthan is not rationalised there is wide gap between the tariff of subsidising sectors and subsidised sectors. Agriculture and domestic being the subsidised sectors are at the much lower tariff than the industrial and commercial tariffs. Efforts have been made to rationalise the tariff with the tariff increase in Nov. 1999 and April 2001. The tariff structure in the Rajasthan is given at Table - 7.

3.      Future scenario

i.                    Sector Structure

The Electricity Bill 2003, which has been recently passed by the Parliament, is expected to be enacted by the Central Govt. in the year 2003. After the enactment of Electricity Act, 2003, open access in the Transmission & Distribution will be introduced and trading of Electricity will be permitted. In other words multi-buyer model will be introduced in the Power Sector and there will be competition among the players of the Power Sector which will in turn reflect in better efficiency and services to the consumers.

As licence can be issued to more than one Distribution Company in the same area, consumers would have option to take supply from any one of them. Small generating companies along with their own distribution network will supply the electricity in rural areas and they will work as stand alone system. Further the role of government will be limited to formation of policies and the sector will work on the basis of healthy economic principles. Only the State Transmission Utility and State Load Despatch Centre will remain under the control of State Government and they cannot involve in supply or trading of electricity.

The cases of pilferage of electricity and other disputes will be disposed off by expert bodies and cases in civil courts will be negligible, therefore long delays will be avoided.

ii.                  Regulation of Power Sector

(a)                With the enactment of Electricity Act, 2003 the work of the regulator will be enhanced, as there will be many players in the power sector with the introduction of multi-buyer model and open access. Concept of multi-year tariff, time of day tariff, price cap regulations, performance based incentives etc. will be introduced. Trading of electricity shall be popular and moving towards time of use, surplus energy, variable load rates, spot market pricing and so on.

(b)               With a view to attach due importance and recognition for the environmental consideration the trading of power from Non-conventional Energy Sources shall be not only popular but may be available on premium due to statutory obligation to use certain percentage of electricity from NES by specified category of consumers.

(c)                The subsidy timeframe fixed by the Regulator shall be over and users shall be cautiously using electricity knowing well its price he has to pay. Subsidy if any allowed by the government shall be known to consumers in the tariff and printed on the bills.

iii.                Future demand

The electricity requirement in Rajasthan over the next eighteen years will depend upon growth of sub-sectors of the economy, which includes industry, agriculture and services and also the growth of population. This relationship is two way because growth in these sectors would in turn depend on adequate availability of power. All villages including hamlets shall be electrified and electricity will be available on demand  to every type consumers. The demand trends projected in the 16^th Electric Power Survey conducted by the Central Electricity Authority assumes unrestricted demand after 1998-99. However, the sale of energy has been stagnant during the last five years and the annual load factor used in the EPS is much lower than the current levels. Therefore, different methodology has to be adopted for demand projections.

Considering overall scenario for each category, demand projections have been worked out for respective growth rates reckoning 2001-02 as the base year for which consumption data is already given in Table-4.

(a) Industrial demand

In Rajasthan, the industrial activity is mainly based on the exploitation of indigenous agriculture and mineral resources i.e. Oilseed, Marble and Granite, Limestone, Zinc & Copper deposits. The localisation of these resources is a key factor of the localisation of industries. The industrial consumption is greatly influenced by the available State resources, the Govt. Policies and the tariff and more generally by the economic scenario. From this point of view the present situation is not favourable and the recessionary trends are very much apparent. With increased captive generation being installed by industrial consumers, the growth of industrial load with impact on state grid is expected to be restricted to around 2% up to 2012-13. This is also substantiated from available load forecast done by various agencies. After 2012-13 the economic development of the state would be at faster rate and with the elimination of cross subsidies and better efficiency due to competition in the power sector the industrial consumption will grow at rate of about 5%.

(b) Agriculture demand

In Rajasthan water is scarce while irrigation depends mainly on underground water resources. For this, diesel pumps as well as Electric Pumps are being used. The agriculture connections in Rajasthan are broadly divided in two categories namely metered and un-metered. However, as per directions of State Regulatory Commission, all the un-metered category consumers are to be converted into metered category by the end of financial year 2004. Also the Electricity Act, 2003 also provides for metering of electricity of every consumer. At present the agriculture is being supplied for 6 to 8 Hrs. in a day in blocks.

For the forecast of agriculture connection it is assumed that all the Diesel Pumps will be converted into Electric Pumps and 50% of the un-irrigated land will also be irrigated out of which 50% will be through surface water irrigation.

It is envisaged that growth rate for this category would continue at about 7% for the next 7 or 8 years i.e. up to 2010-11 and thereafter this may decline as a result of excessive depletion of water table.  From 2011-12 to 2015-16 the growth rate has been taken as 5% and thereafter 3%.

(c)   Domestic consumption

The forecast of Domestic category consumption depends on trends of increase in population and increase in per capita consumption etc. Past trends shows there is growth rate of about 8% per annum in the Domestic consumption. Looking to steady growth in the domestic consumption, past trends have been considered for the future domestic load up to 2012-13. After this the standard of living will increase and electricity will reach to every house and therefore the consumption of electricity for domestic use will increase and a growth rate of 11% has been taken.

(d) Commercial consumption

Growth rate of 5% per annum has been considered for the consumption under this category up to 2012-13 and afterwards higher growth rate of 7% has been taken as with the economic development of the State commercial activities will increase. Concept of big showrooms, multiplexes, amusement parks, advertisement through glow signboards will increase the consumption of electricity for commercial use.

(e) Railway traction

It has been observed that there is an average annual growth rate of 6% in this category. With the electrification of other Railway tracks in Rajasthan and increased traffic on existing electrified tracks, the consumption under this category will grow and it has been assumed that the growth rate of 6% per annum will be continued in future.

Category wise Load forecast based on above growth rates is shown at Table-8

iv.                Power requirement

Besides the factors influenced by the consumers the power requirement of the sector is also greatly influenced by other technical phenomena i.e. load pattern, technical and non-technical losses.

While considering the future power requirement, following assumptions have been made: -

The transmission and distribution losses for Rajasthan as per approved Financial Restructuring Plan assumed to decline on account of the reform process in the power sector that has been initiated and the heavy investments in the transmission and distribution that have been planned in the coming years to the level of 28.16% by the end of FY 2007. The reduction in T&D losses is expected to reduce from the current level of 39.6% to 26% by 2012-13 and 23% by 2020.

·        The plant load factor (PLF) in the case of Rajasthan is relatively high for thermal power plants (as high as 88% in certain stations). The designed energy for hydro stations is relatively lower. The plant load factor till 2020 Thermal, Gas & Nuclear has been assumed at 77%.

·        The reserve margin for generating stations has been taken at 15%, which is in line with the reserve margin levels in other countries.

·        The existing and proposed generation capacity (within Rajasthan and that on account of central allocation) has been taken on the basis of the addition in generation capacity proposed during the 10^th plan and onward duration.

·         Auxiliary consumption for Thermal and Nuclear generating stations has been taken at 10%, and 3% for Gas based, which is equivalent to the current levels of auxiliary consumption.

·         Stringent provisions against theft of electricity made in the new Electricity Act’ 2003 shall have vide ranging impact and the cases of theft shall start reducing.

Table - 9 represents the likely position of demand and supply of power in the state up to 2020.

v.                  Financing required

The investment requirement in the power sector for Rajasthan can be segregated into two distinct areas relating to generation and transmission & distribution.

Investment requirements in generation have been arrived at by multiplying the additional generation capacity required by capital cost of setting up 1 MW of generation capacity. The capital cost of installing 1MW of power has been taken as Rs. 4.5 crore.  This is based upon the current capital cost of power generation for coal and gas based power plants. The investment required upto 2020 for generation is about Rs. 39,000 crores.

vi.                Estimated Installed Capacity Upto 2020

Table 10 below shows the estimated Installed Capacity both in terms of MW and MU upto financial year 2020.

vii.              Tariff and Subsidies

All the consumers will be metered and every consumer has to pay cost of supply, however, government may provide subsidy to any class of consumer for which government will pay the amount of subsidy in advance.

viii.            IT expansion & Automation

The expansion of electrical networks in a large geographic area necessitated the need of equally efficient and reliable data acquisition and monitoring system.

The growth in IT Sector, as well as the sophistication of electrical control gears by means of micro-processor based technologies facilitated the orientation of power sector in implementing SCADA/ EMS (Supervisory control and data acquisition/ Energy management system) solutions.

(a). IT in transmission

Keeping pace with the new technologies and to reap the benefits of efficient system control, ULDC (Unified Load Despatch and Communication) scheme has been commissioned in the state for efficient control of the grid. In this scheme the SLDC (State Level Load Despatch Centres) at Heerapura (Jaipur) and Sub SLDCs at Kota, Bhilwara and Ratangarh have been established. On various important 400/ 220/132 kV stations Remote Terminal Units (RTU’s) have been placed for acquisition of analog/ digital data, as well provide system control functionalities. These RTU’s are communicating data to their respective sub-LDCs as well as to SLDC at Heerapura, Jaipur. The scheme functions in unison with the Regional Load Despatch Centre at New Delhi being operated by Power Grid.

Presently the communication media utilised for this transmission are, PLCC, microwave and fibre optic cables.

To achieve the integrated SCADA EMS functionalities, RVPN envisage to cover the complete substation network. To implement the transition from the conventional stations to the sophisticated modern substation a phased approach is required. RVPN is planning/preparing strategy to implement SCADA/EMS solution and in first phase keeping more emphasis on the following points:-

i)                    Upcoming/new substations to be built on newer technology having integrated SCADA solutions and deploying the modern microprocessor based equipment.

ii)                   Wherever any up gradation/ addition in the old sub-station is required it is to be done with the latest type of equipment suitable for SCADA operations.

iii)                 Wide communication policy, so as to achieve faster /reliable communication channels.

iv)                 Operation of remotely located stations from master station to cope up with the less manpower availability.

v)                  Training the Engineers/operators to train them on the complete scheme, technology and operation.

(b).  IT in Distribution.

All the offices including control stations will be computerised. Consumers can access data relating to his electricity connection on Internet. Information regarding supply, metering, billing, payments, grievances etc. will be available on the web site. Mobile maintenance units will take care for speedy redressal of consumer complaints.  Detailed IT application in distribution are as follows:-

1.      Information of Consumer billing available on Internet.

.

a)      Different tariff for peak load & off load

b)      Remote consumer metering.

c)      Current period Billing.

d)      Billing History.

e)      Uses History.

f)        On line Payment facilities

2.      SCADA

·        Efficient Distribution Management 

·        Fault analysis  easier and quicker due to availability of real time information

·        Prompt and quicker restoration of supply in case of outages

·        Malfunctioning equipment can be identified and action can be taken  for rectifying the  same  early

·        Historical data up to a period of 2 years can be stored for future analysis

·        Stations can be operated as unmanned substation

·        Close monitoring of supply status for essential services and VIP functions

·        Load shedding can be programmed in a systematic manner during shortages or exigencies.

3.      Grievance Redressal.

a)      On line complaint registration.

b)      Status of complaint.

c)      Consumer Service Centre.

1)      Centralised registration

2)      Monitoring of attending & course of action.

3)      Status convey to consumer.

d)      Position of grievance display on Web site.