In order to upgrade the existing distribution and sub-transmission system of major towns/cities and to improve the commercial viability of SEBs, Ministry of Power/Govt. of India started ACCELERATED POWER DEVELOPMENT REFORM PROGRAMME (APDRP). It has two components i.e.

1. Investment Component for strengthening and Up gradation of the existing distribution and sub-transmission system
2. Incentive Component to encourage/motivate utilities to reduce cash losses.1.0) Under Investment Component a total of 26 number schemes under APDRP have been approved by MOP/GOI amounting to Rs. 715.57 Crores during the year 2002-03, 2003-04 , 2004-05 and 2005-06 ) It has now been decided by MoP/GoI that District Headquarter towns shall be sanctioned under APDRP. Five number schemes of District Headquarter towns i.e Mansa, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Ropar and Nawanshahar have been submitted for approval of MOP/GOI.

STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION:

A. Metering:

• PSEB has completed feeder metering on all feeders out of which 750 No. feeders have been covered under APDRP.
• Over 8.75 ac single-phase & 1.60 three phase electro-mechanical meters have been replaced with electronic meters under APDRP.
• Over 8728 No. Distribution Transformers (DT) have been provided with Electronic Energy Meters for energy audit under APDRP.
• A programme of installing energy meters in MCBs and pillar boxes is in progress where more than 7 lac units would be installed to curb theft of energy and the work is in progress.

B IT enabling: –

• On-line computerization is expected to be completed within 2 years.
• Computerized billing in respect of all consumers except AP stand achieved
• For 100% computerized Cash Collection.195 No. Sub-Divisions have already been covered & remaining 286 No. Sub-divisions would be covered shortly.
• For providing 24 Hrs Bill Deposit Facility to consumers, 10 No. Automated Bill Payment Machines have been installed at Mohali, Patiala, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Pathankot.

C. SUB TRANSMISSION WORKS:-

• 14 No. New grid sub stations at the cost of Rs. 35.53 Crore have been commissioned during this period & capacity of 22 No. Grid sub station at the cost of Rs. 26.97 Crore have been augmented & 11 No. Works are under execution.
• A total of Rs 83.35 Crore has been spent to strengthen sub transmission system.
• For the replacement of obsolete Grid Sub Stations equipment viz. 66 KV/11 KV breakers, cables, relays etc., Rs. 25.17 Crore has been spent out of which 79 No. 66KV & 246 No. 11KV breakers have been replaced.

D. Strengthening of Distribution System: –

• More than 817 KMs of 11KV line have been erected at the cost of Rs 19.56 Crores.
• Conductor of 11KV lines has been replaced/aug. at a cost of Rs 6.41 Crores.
• 4198 T/Fs have been added and 3186 T/Fs have been deloaded at a total cost of Rs 50.70 Crores.

INCENTIVE COMPONENT

Under this scheme, state Government will be incentivised up to 50% of the actual total loss reduction by SEB as grant taking year 2000-01 as the base year. The loss is calculated net of subsidy given by the state and revenue is to be considered on net realization basis. The grant under incentive component shall be utilized in improvement of power sector only.

During the year 2003-04, there was reduction in cash loss of about Rs. 504 Cr. over the year 2000-01. MoP/GoI has approved incentive of Rs. 251.94 crore but only Rs. 65.94 Cr has been released by GOI so far to GOP/PSEB.

OFFICE OF THE DY. CHIEF ENGINEER/REP

This office deals with the drawl of loan against various REC schemes such as RGGVY Projects, HVDS, P:SI, P:IE, SPA/PE, & SI Schemes from Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd. New Delhi (REC) after getting approval from PSEB & Government guarantee from Punjab Govt. Various schemes are framed as per planning lists prepared by the Planning organization, which are subsequently sent to REC for sanction. After getting them sanctioned from REC, required documentation is made. Mobilisation advance is taken against various sanctioned schemes wherever admissible and the remaining loan is drawn against progress, which is collected from the field offices and sent to REC. REC checks/monitor the same, officers/officials of REP/APDRP (Implementation Cell) along with field offices associate the REC officers during the checking/monitoring of the work. Thereafter the loan amount is released. On the completion of work the schemes are closed after seeking the approval of competent authority. This office as per terms and conditions of loan agreement also makes the repayment of principal & interest. The loan to the tune of Rs. 1140.38 Crore was outstanding as on 30.6.2007. During the current financial year of 2007-08, loan of Rs. 64.50 crore has been taken from REC up to June 2007. The repayment of principal amounting to Rs 21.64 Crores has been made upto 30.06.2007. Interest on loan has also been made to REC amounting to Rs. 25.35 Crore. Loan of Rs 1097.52 Crores was outstanding as on 31.03.2007. The interest rate being charged by REC w.e.f. 26.04.2007 is @10.90% P.A.

HVDS SCHEME

The Punjab State Electricity Board constituted a committee under the Chairman ship of Member/Distribution to formulate the Five Year Plan with quantifiable annual milestone to bring down T & D losses. Board has already approved various recommendations of the committee. A Road Map has been prepared for T&D Reduction and Improvement in consumers Services. Out of these schemes, this directorate is looking after implementation of high voltage distribution system (HVDS) and installation of L.T capacitors on BOO basis for all AP consumers in the State of Punjab to reduce the distribution losses and for providing reliable and quality supply to the consumers.       

BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT

n this scheme, the existing LT line feeding to AP consumers shall be converted into 11 KV line on the existing poles by making some amendments/modifications in the fixtures. All the consumers shall be fed through small capacity dedicated Transformers of 6.3/10/16/25 KVA rating. The following benefits shall be achieved after implementation of this scheme.

1. Improved voltage profile to every AP Consumer.
2. Theft of energy will be practically zero.
3. Failure of Distribution Transformers will almost be negligible.
4. Drastic reduction in LT Line losses.
5. Chances of adding illegal motors are completely eliminated.
6. Due to reduction in KVA capacity and better voltage profile, the peak power losses will reduce considerably.
7. Consumers shall be involved in safety and upkeep of Distribution Transformers due to dedicated installation
8. Overall system efficiency will be improved.

In order to reduce T&D losses, a proposal was framed to convert existing LVDS system feeding AP consumers on 3 phase 3-wire feeders to HVDS. The matter was taken up with REC for getting the project financed. REC agreed in Principal to finance this project. Accordingly 46 Nos. schemes (5,24,856 nos. AP connections) amounting to Rs. 2387 crore were sent to REC for sanction. Out of these, 40 Nos. schemes amounting to Rs. 2176 crore stands sanctioned and the remaining 6 Nos. schemes amounting to Rs.211 crore are under sanction.

In order to execute the work under this project, 6 Nos. schemes (81253 nos. AP connections) amounting to Rs. 381 crore was selected out of the 40 nos. sanctioned schemes in the first phase. A detailed specification was framed and floated through press for execution of work relating to these 6 Nos. schemes. 9 no. firms participated in this tenders enquiry. Price bids submitted against this tender enquiry have already been opened on 18.6.2007. The memorandum stands submitted to the Board regarding finalization of this tender enquiry and work orders are likely to be placed in the month of August, 2007.

NIT for the remaining 40 nos. schemes is under preparation and is likely to be floated in July/August, 2007.

The work for converting the remaining 4.25 lacs Tube well connections presently being fed through 3 phase 4 wire feeders to HVDS has also been undertaken. DPR’s are under preparation and shall be submitted to REC in Sept., 2007 for sanctioning the same.

Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY)

It is a centrally sponsored scheme, which facilitates the Electricity Boards for a grant of 90% of the project cost & balance 10% amount of scheme will be funded by REC as a soft loan with a nominal interest rate of 5%.
Under RGGVY Project 17 No detailed project reports covering area of all the districts of Punjab State amounting to Rs.164.85 Crores were prepared and submitted to REC for sanction during 2005-06. These schemes were prepared for creating electrical infrastructure by erecting 8 KMs 66 KV line, 3534.92 KMs 11 KV line, 2036.95 KMs LT line and installation of one no. 8 MVA power transformer and 7014 No. 25 KVA distribution transformers for release of 256065 No. General service connections and 148858 No. Connections for BPL families. Only one No scheme for Ferozepur District for Rs.22.97 Crores has been sanctioned by MOP/REC during the year 2005-06 and in principle approval to the remaining 16 no. Schemes amounting to Rs 121.96 Crore stand accorded.  Ministry of Power, Govt. of India and REC have released no funds/loan against sanctioned scheme till date.

All the works covered under RGGVY projects are to be executed on turnkey basis through outsourcing. Accordingly specification for getting the works executed on turnkey basis were floated and opened on 10.4.2006. Since only one scheme of Ferozepur District was sanctioned so price bid of Group-IV containing Ferozepur district was opened in 7/2006 and the case was put up to the Board which was not approved and it was also decided that re-invitation of tenders be done after revising the specifications.

The revision of specification for outsourcing on turnkey basis is under process. The NIT shall be floated for inviting tenders after finalization of specifications.

It is, however, intimated that this scheme contains some pre-requisites for release of Loan/grant and some of them have been fulfilled. Now only two No. Pre-requisites namely GIS Mapping of the entire area and Franchisee Development are required to be fulfilled. The latest status of these pre-requisite conditions is as under

Deployment of Franchisees (Revenue Collection): – Revenue collection based near to Model-A was adopted provisionally to meet the prerequisite of RGGVY.  NIT No.Q-1013/SE/REP was floated and date of opening of tender was fixed on 22.05.2006. But due to poor response from the bidders, the date of opening of tenders has to extend 5th time by 29.12.2006. Only one tender was received up to due date of opening of tender i.e. up to 29.12.2006. Due to non-fulfillment of minimum requirement of tenders for opening, this tender was not opened and tender inquiry has been dropped.

Now PSEB has appointed franchisees in 12 Nos. operation divisions for revenue activities i.e. Spot Billing by using handhold spot billing machine (SBM) and on spot collection of energy bill from consumers desirous of making payment. On the spot payment by cash shall be accepted for electricity bill up to Rs. 1000/- only. This mode of franchisee is near to revenue collection based model-A. The proposal on this basis was submitted to REC Panchkula for vetting .REC has given approval to this proposal vide letter No REC/ RGGVY/ Franchisees/ 2007-08/409 dated 01-06-07.Now WTM’s have entrusted the work of franchisee developing on this pattern in remaining Divisions of state of Punjab to Chief/CCR.

Regarding GIS mapping, Pilot Project were given to private firms for GIS Mapping of one 11KV feeder of Mohali city and two no. Feeders of Ludhiana City. The work of GIS mapping of two no. 11KV feeders under SE/DS city west circle Ludhiana is underway. The work of GIS mapping of 11 KV Phase-1 feeder of Mohali city under SE/DS circle Mohali   is near completion and report is expected shortly. Further action to get the GIS Mapping under RGGVY Scheme will be taken after receipt of final report of both feeders mentioned above.