Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, also known as MahaDiscom
is a public sector entity under the Maharashtra government and the second largest
electricity distribution utility in the world after the State Grid Corporation of
China. It supplies electricity to a staggering 2.20 Cr consumers in Maharashtra
across various categories spanning residential, commercial and industrial.
The Need
In India, the Distribution Sector is the revenue generating link in the chain of
Generation-Transmission-Distribution. As compared to the performance of Generation
and Transmission, Distribution is the weakest link in the power sector value chain
due to high AT&C losses, inefficiencies and aging infrastructure. With a view to
reducing the aggregate technical & commercial (AT&C) losses, the Government of India
formulated a Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP).
The focus of the programme was:
AT&C loss reduction, establishment of reliable and automated sustainable systems
for collection of base line data, adoption of information technology in the areas
of energy accounting, consumer care and strengthening of the Distribution networks
of State Power Utilities.
Solutions
C&A was awarded a contract by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company
Limited (MSEDCL), the largest power distribution utility in the country for Information
& Communication Technology (ICT) work in 95 towns of Maharashtra.
C&A competed against major market players and bagged this order in a limited tender.
The project scope included :
- Setting up a Data Centre in Mumbai
- Setting up a Disaster Recovery Centre in Nagpur
- Setting up a Call Centre in Mumbai
- Development & Implementation of application software modules - Connection management,
GIS, Network Analysis, CRM, Energy Audit, Identity & Access management, MIS & BI
- Installation of 25,400 modems for AMR (Automatic Meter Reading)
- Establishment of IT infrastructure & MPLS WAN in 810 offices in 95 towns
- DGPS based network and consumer survey covering an area of 25342 sq km
- Integration with legacy applications
The greatest challenges in implementing such a complex and enterprise-wide system
are: timely execution, managing wide spread assets, scalability, and reliability,
while minimising the administration and maintenance required for deployment and
operation. C&A's deep knowledge and understanding of the utility operations coupled
with its project management skills/ expertise helped it to meet customer's expectations
on outcome of the project. The project team worked closely with MSEDCL to deploy
various packages as per plan and helped the customer to improve its operational
efficiency and reduce AT&T losses.
C&A also helped the customer to establish the baseline data of revenue and energy
through its automated monthly Energy Audits & Management Reports. In addition to
bringing in transparency, these excellent tools helped MSEDCL to strengthen its
distribution network, streamline energy accounting and auditing, reduce AT&C losses
and thus fulfil MSEDCL's vision of providing 24x7 power supply.
The project has also helped MSEDCL to implement various customer-centric processes
like online bill payments, new connections, disconnections, meter change tracking,
name or address changes, payment and consumer complaints and its status for all
consumers across the state. Now consumers can receive their monthly bills via email
by registering on MSEDCL's website. Consumers can register complaints / requests
by contacting CCC's toll free phone number or website.
Highlights
Under the programme, the following modules have been implemented, to get verified
baseline AT&C losses
- New Connection
- Disconnection and Dismantling
- Meter Data Acquisition System (AMR)
- GIS based Consumer Indexing, Asset Mapping
- GIS Based Network Analysis
- Customer Relationship Management
- Web Self Service
- Portal & Document Management System
- MIS - Business Intelligence- Dashboards
- Integration with existing Billing, ERP, HRMS, SCADA and DMS
- Identity Access Management
Benefits
- Transparency across business processes
- Reduced business process cycle time
- Increase in consumer survey
The Maharashtra R-APDRP Part - A project is reckoned as one of the best executed
projects amongst all the states of India and referred to as "benchmark" by PFC which
is the Nodal Agency for this Programme of MOP.
On the auspicious occasion of Maharashtra Day - 1st May, 2014, the then Hon'ble
Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Prithviraj Chavan presented the First State
eGovernance Awards to the best eGovernance Projects in Maharashtra State. The MSEDCL
team was awarded the Bronze medal in the "Innovative use of IT in Governance" category
for its Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP)
Part 'A' project.