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 Sate 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, 2003 has access to 4547 MW of installed capacity. Of this 2090 MW is exclusively owned and operated by a State Generating Company RVUN whereas the State has a share of 971 MW in the inter state partnership projects, both Hydel and Thermal, and has an allocation of 1426 MW in the Central Sector Power Stations and 60 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 56 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 4547 MW at the end of Financial Year 2003. The details of which are as follows: -

Generation Capacity from owned/partnership Projects               3061 MW
Allocations from Central Sector Generating Stations                 1426 MW
Non-Conventional Energy Sources                                           60 MW
Total                                                                                                    4547 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. Although, Rajasthan presently has a well defined Non Conventional Energy Policy and Wind Policy, renewable sources of energy form a negligible proportion of total capacity in the state, representing less than  1.5% of generating 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.