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The Indian Chambers of Commerce, in its maiden venture, organised a one-day summit viz-

1st Odisha Energy Conclave-2014 with the aim to provide an exclusive forum to deliberate,

understand and explore the growing opportunities as well as roadblocks in the State’s Energy Sector. Sj. Pranab Prakash Das, Hon’ble Minister, Energy & IT inaugurated the Conclave as Chief Guest. Sj. Pradeep Kumar Jena, IAS, Principal Secretary, Energy & Sj. Hemant Sharma, IAS, CMD, GRIDCO also graced the occasion as Guest of Honour & distinguished Guest. In his address, the Hon’ble Minister stressed on the importance of more investment in distribution sector to make it sustainable, affordable and reliable. Among others,Mr. Vikash Agarwal, Chairman, ICC-Odisha Chapter, Mr. J.B.Pany, Exe. Member, ICC & Mr.K.M.Trivedi, CGM,SBI spoke on the occasion.

33 senior executives from three DISCOMs attended the Conclave and participated in the deliberation. Er Anil Kumar Bohra,CEO,CSO gave a presentation on ‘Smart Grid : Issues & Challanges of Net metering. The MD,NESCO Shri T.Panda and MD,SOUTHCO Shri

B.B.Sharma were also present at the Conclave.

Contents Inside

Page-2 : Editorial, News Round-up, Legal Post Page-3 : Coming Closer to Consumers

Back page : Projects in Progress With an objective to facilitate Financial Control and Corporate Governance in intra-organisation business processes, the management of NESCO, WESCO and SOUTHCO all set to implement fully integrated business specific SAP–R/3 ERP Systems. This will help the DISCOMS in benchmarking their internal processes and performance standards thereby ensuring better planning and utilisation of business resources.

A kick-off meeting followed by SAP Exposure Training Program was organised from 23 to 26 June, 2014 at Bhubaneswar. The training programme was conducted by a 4-member SAP team from R-Infra (Mumbai). 46 representatives from three DISCOMS participated in the training programme. Er. Debasish Banerjee, Director, Er. A. K. Bohra, CEO, CSO and MDs of three DISCOMs were present at the overview meeting and in various sessions of the program. In the first phase, the three modules : Finance & Control (FICO), Materials Management (MM) and Project System (PS) will be implemented. For further exposure to the process owners and power users, a six- day hands-on training has been scheduled at Reliance Energy Management Institute (REMI), Mumbai. Er. Debasish Banerjee, Director of the three DISCOMS, expressed satisfaction over the enthusiasm shown by all participants in the training. He advised the participants to complete all activities/ processes till successful implementation of SAP at various locations by 31st Dec. 2014.

Sj.Suresh Ch. Mahapatra, IAS, recently, assumed office as the new Principal Secretary, Energy, Odisha.

Prior to joining Energy Department, Sj Mahapatra was Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department, GoO. A versatile and visionary administrator, Sj. Mahapatra has wide experience and comprehensive understanding of the operation, issues and challenges of State Power Sector.

The Power Post, on behalf of Discoms extends greetings & best wishes to Sj. Mahapatra and wish that State energy sector will cross milestones of success and growth under his benign leadership.

The Power Post gratefully recapitulates the visionary and proactive leadership leveraged by the power sector under the able guidance of Sj. Pradeep Kumar Jena, IAS. His par excellent administrative acumen, foresight and determined efforts were instrumental in bringing in mega developmental projects such as CAPEX, ODSSP etc. and accomplishment of Post-Phailin mega power restoration task in Ganjam Dist. and CESU area within a record time of 45 days which not only received commendation across the Globe but also created a new benchmark in public service.

nesco,wesco & southco The Power Post

JUDGEMENT : Hearing the Writ Petition, the Gujurat HC ruled that the provision of Section-135 of Electricity Act,2003 prohibiting odd hour checking is only applicable in respect of domestic premises and the premises of factory is not to be treated as domestic premises.

OCCUPIER OF ANY PREMISES DENOTES LEGAL OCCUPIER ONLY

SMT.BUHAIMON THANGKHIEW VS. MEGHALAYA ENERGY CORPORATION LTD. & OTHERS

In the above case, the Hon’ble High Court of Meghalaya ruled that, there should be some document to show prima facie that the occupier who filed the application for electricity is a lawful occupier of the premises.Sec.-43 of the Electricity Act,2003 does not contemplate to supply electricity to anybody who files an application for the same.

BLOOD DONATION CAMP

“NESCO Employees Community (NEC), a recreational and charitable society of the employees of NESCO has organized a BLOOD DONATION CAMP on 05.07.2014 in the corporate office premises of NESCO,Januganj, Balasore. 61 units of blood were collected from the donors of the Corporate Office and nearby Circle/ Division.

WORKSHOP ON ELECTRICAL SAFETY

In order to inculcate safety consciousness among the field employees of the Company, a workshop on Electrical Safety Education & Awareness “was organised by Southco Electrical Division,Chhatrapur on 25.06.2014. DGM (Elect) of Berhampur Circle Er.P.K.Choudhury and S.E (Safety) Er. R.N.Mandal enlightened the participants on various aspects of safety precautions at work-place so as to ensure a safe working environment for the field employees. The program was conducted by Er. Prabhat Kumar Kar, EE,Chhatrapur.

REWARD & RECOGNITION

A Commendation Certificate appreciating his noteworthy performance awarded by Shri Satish Seth, Vice Chairman, R-Infra,Mumbai was presented to Shri Swain by the CEO,CSO Shri A.K.Bohra at the function attended by Sr.Executives ,Officers & staff of CSO and Discoms.

Shri Gagan Bihari Swain, General Manager (Finance) at Central Service Office of NESCO, WESCO & SOUTHCO, Bhubaneswar has been felicitated for his initiative & accomplishments at a simple function organised at CSO, Bhubaneswar.

Editorial ......

While presenting the 3rd issue of The Power Post, we take the opportunity to extend warm greetings to our esteemed readers on the auspicious occasion of 68th Independence Day. We have the pleasure to mention that the appreciative remarks we received from our valued readers have encouraged us to put more efforts in bringing improvement in the content and theme of the Magazine.

In this issue, we have encompassed some of the frontline projects/ programs, which the Discoms have taken-up in the recent past to galvanise their improvement process. Meanwhile, the roadmap for SAP implementation has been drawn-up and the Mobile Phone Based Spot Billing project has seen success with expected results. The Capex program has also gained momentum in Discoms.

It is heartening that the State Govt. has come forward with huge investments in the distribution sector for its reinforcement to withstand the future growth and challenges. Discoms need to rise to the occasion and focus in execution of the projects efficiently in a time-bound manner.

LICENSEE CAN INSPECT INDUSTRIAL PREMISES ON ODD HOURS – GUJURAT HIGH COURT

MAHESH J.GADHAVI.(PETITIONER) :V/s: DEPUTY ENGINEER, PASCHIM GUJARAT VIJ CO. LTD.(RESPODENTS)

CASE HISTORY : The Salt Production factory of the petitioner was subjected to surprise inspection and checking on 30.12.2003 between 21-00 hrs to 22.30 hrs at night. During the surprise checking, the electricity squad found that the meter was not registering the consumption of supply, though the power was on. As such, a case of theft was filed against the consumer Shri Mahesh J. Gadhavi and a penal bill amounting Rs.1,88,089.70ps. on that basis, was raised. Being aggrieved by the judgement of the lower Court, the petitioner preferred a writ before the Hon’ble High Court interalia, contending that, the checking squad should not have checked the premises at an odd hours and when the mobile number was mentioned on the board, the checking squad should have contacted the petitioner and invited him to be present at the site before carrying out the inspection and checking. Hence, the checking of his premises is not permissible as per Sec-135 of the Electricity Act,2003 and therefore the version of the checking squad could not be believable and correct .

68TH INDEPENDENCE-DAY CELEBRATION

A view of 68th Independence Celebration at CSO,Bhubaneswar

nesco,wesco & southco The Power Post

NEW CUSTOMER CARE CENTRES

SOUTHCO, in its endeavour for value addition to consumer

service and with an objective to enhance consumer satisfaction, has recently set-up four Customer Care Centres viz- at Rukmini Talkies, Old Bus Stand, Utkal Cinema Hall and Near GRF office in Berhampur City.

In the second phase, 4 more Centres will be established in the City Viz :at Aska Road Taluka, City Hospital, Near Congress Bhavan and Kanisi State Bank . With functioning of these CCCs, more than 85,000 consumers of the City will be entitled to hassle-free prompt service and speedy resolution of their grievances.

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WESCO has set-up its 1st Customer Care Centre for

Sudargarh Division at Megha Mallahar Compex, Sundargarh Town The Centre was inaugurated by Er. T.B.Mishra,G.M, Rourkela Circle in the presence of citizenry of the town and EEs and SDOs of the Circle. Around 10,000 consumers will be benefited by this CCC.

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SOUTHCO EMPOWERING WOMEN SHGs

Carrying forward the implementation of State Govt. proposed SEFA (SHGs in Energy Franchise Arrangement) Program, SOUTHCO has outsourced its Spot Billing and Electricity Bill

Collection job to Women SHGs. So far, 448 WSHGs has been engaged at Panchayat level to take-up the above jobs for 1.34 lakh consumers. 86 Blocks in SOUTHCO will be brought under SEFA Program covering 2.24 lakh consumers . The move is aimed at not only to economically empower the Women groups, which enjoy a substantial base among the communities in rural pockets, but also to regularize energy dues collection and create awareness among the people.

Recently, a business specific Orientation-cum-Sensitization Program for Women SHGs was organized by SOUTHCO on 24.07.2014 at Patrapur Block Meeting Hall. SOUTHCO franchised WSHGs from Patrapada & Chikiti Block had participated in the Program. As an inspirational gesture, the best performing WSHGs were rewarded by Sri. Samir Kumar Swain..Asst. Vice President , Southco.

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OERC CONSUMER INTERFACE PROGRAM

With an objective to gather first-hand response on standard of consumer service and to hear the grievances of consumers, the OERC had conducted a Consumer Interface Program at Brahmani, Rourkela Club on 19.07.2014. The program organised by WESCO was attended by 80 Consumers of different category representing cross section of society.

On behalf of the Commission, Shri K.L.Panda,Director (Engg.) and Ms.Purabi Das,PAO assisted by G.M,Rkl Circle, Er. T.B.Mishra interacted with the consumers. Among others, President, GRF, Rourkela Er. Banamali Mohapatra and all the local SDOs and J.Es were present at the Interface Program. The prime grievance of Industrial consumers for installation of a 132/33kv Grid at Kalunga was noted by the Commission.

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PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

A road-show in session for consumer awareness at Sambalpur

nesco,wesco & southco The Power Post

The ambitious project of installation of Prepaid Smart Energy Meters in Govt. Offices has been making steady progress in NESCO, WESCO & SOUTHCO. The three Discoms, which pioneered this System in Odisha, have so far successfully installed prepaid meters in 850 Govt. Offices/ Departments. It has been planned to install 4000 Smart Prepaid meters in the first Phase of the installation. With the installation of these meters, there is steady flow of energy receivables from the Consumers.

Workshop on Pre-paid Metering at Rourkela

A Workshop-cum-Awareness Program on Prepaid Energy Metering System was organised in the Office of the ADM, Rourkela on 30 July 2014 under the joint auspice of local administration and WESCO to provide a comprehensive understanding about the new System, its operation and the benefits to consumers. Representatives of different Govt. Departments and WESCO Executives had participated in the workshop. Sj. Rabindra Nath Mishra, ADM, Rourkela had presided over the Meeting. In his address, he called upon the representative of the Govt. Departments to extend all cooperation to WESCO to expedite the Installation Program. Shri Tarun Ballav Mishra, SE, Rourkela, Shri P.K.Kar, Consultant, Shri Chinmaya Mohapatra, Project Officer and local Sub-divisional & Sectional Officers of WESCO were present at the workshop

In-house Training-cum- Orientation Program for Prepaid Metering In order to facilitate successful management & execution of prepaid metering project, a training-cum-orientation program was organised by WESCO for the officers / employees of Rourkela Circle on 30.07.2014 The program was conducted by JnJ Powercom Systems Limited.

The newly constructed 33/11 KV Primary Sub-station at Titipa -Chari Chhaka in Krushna Prasad Block under Puri District was inaugurated on 11 August,2014 by Sj.Pranab Prakash Das, Hon’ble Minister,Energy & IT in the presence of Hon’ble Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sj. Sanjay ku.Das Burma and Er. Bharat B Sharma.M.D,SOUTHCO. The Substation will provide steady power supply to nearly 30 villages having more than 5,000 consumers of various categories, besides improving the voltage condition of the power supply at the extreme tail end from the Malud 33/11 KV Primary Sub-station.

NESCO, WESCO & SOUTHCO launch Mobile Phone-based Spot-Billing System

With an aim to have effective control on Spot-Billing Operations presently in vogue for single phase consumers, an innovative, secure, and user-friendly Mobile Phone based Spot Billing Application has been developed by the IT Team of Discoms. The application has several pioneering & novel features which compels the Meter Reader to take the photo of the meter prior to entering the meter reading and generating the bill. The bill thus generated is updated on real time basis at the Discoms’ server. This enables the consumer to make online payment against the current month’s bill at his /her comfort by choosing any of the convenient options. The meter photo captured at the time of taking meter reading is also uploaded to Discoms’ server. These photos are analysed through a specially developed IT Tool and readings are compared.

Through this process, cases of deliberate mistakes committed by Meter Readers are identified and corrective action is taken including action taken on the errant Meter Readers. Also irregularities committed by consumers including tampering of meters, by-pass /theft cases are identified promptly and action is taken accordingly. In addition to this, during the progress of billing, the Division/ Subdivision Heads are able to generate various MIS reports on daily basis, which in turn facilitates the monitoring of billing and collection in an efficient way. Besides, an innovative monitoring & analysis tool is also developed to review meter readers’ performance in respect of Billing, Photo quality etc. The mobile phone based spot-billing application coupled with Meter Reader’s Performance Analysis & Monitoring tool has proved to be the complete solution for definite improvement of the Billing. The solution has already been implemented in 3 Discoms covering around 4.80 lac consumers with Southco having taken the lead with about 4 lac consumers as of August,2014. So far, Discoms have been able to identify several cases of suppressed readings. By March,2015, Discoms aim to cover 12 lac consumers.

Projects in Progress

Chief Editor : Er.Anil Kumar Bohra Edited & published by Shri D.Samal,P.R.O at Regd. Office of

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER NESCO,WESCO & SOUTHCO, N1/22,IRC Village,Nayapalli,BBSR-15

Mail Id : editor.powerpost@odishadiscoms.com Mob. No- 9437057165