The power distribution sector in India is undergoing a transformative phase, with ongoing efforts to enhance efficiency, customer satisfaction and financial sustainability. Evaluating the sector’s performance, recently the Ministry of Power (MoP) released three important reports – the 13th Integrated Rating and Ranking report, providing a comprehensive evaluation of the operational and financial performance of 63 discoms over fiscal year 2023-24; the REC’s Consumer Services Rating of Discoms (CSRD) report, which assesses the performance of 66 discoms in four critical areas including metering, billing, collections and fault rectification; and the Distribution Utilities Ranking (DUR) Report, which has been released for the first time, evaluating India’s utilities across six key parameters. The parameters are integrated rating and ranking (IR), CSRD, renewable purchase obligations (RPOs), system metering, demand-side response and resource adequacy.
A closer look at the key takeaways from the three reports…
Integrated Rating and Rankings Report
The MoP, in collaboration with PFC Limited, has published the 13th edition of the Annual Integrated Rating Report for the review year 2023-24, providing insights and ratings on the operational and financial performance of 63 discoms.
Of 63 discoms, 32 utilities have received the top three grades of A+, A or B. Further, 21 utilities have upgraded their ratings from the previous year, whereas 13 discoms have downgraded from the previous year. Also, 29 utilities have retained their ratings. The number of discoms awarded C or lower grades (C-, D) have reduced from 21 in the 12th ratings to 18 in the 13th ratings.
The top 10 performing discoms are Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML), Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Limited (DGVCL), Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL), Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited (MGVCL), Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Limited (UGVCL), Uttar Haryana Bijlee Vidyut Nigam Limited (UHBVNL), TP Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL), TP Western Odisha Distribution Limited (TPWODL), TP Northern Odisha Distribution Limited (TPNODL) and Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited (PGVCL).
Parameter-wise performance
AT&C losses: The aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses during 2023-24 grew from 15.3 per cent to 16.3 per cent, driven by 1.2 per cent points decrease in their collection efficiency.
As per the report, 40 out of 63 utilities saw an improvement in their AT&C losses, with 18 utilities–MGVCL, PGVCL, TPWODL, TPNODL, TPSODL, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), Chamundeshwari Electric Supply Corporation Limited (CHESCOM), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), Hubli Electric Supply Company Limited (HESCOM), Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited [AVVNL], North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (NBPDCL), South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (SBPDCL), Northern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited (TGNPDCL), Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (MVVNL), Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (DVVNL), the Goa and Puducherry power departments recording a greater than 2 percentage point improvement.
Billing efficiency: The billing efficiency improved across 36 discoms, with six utilities showing significant improvement of over 2 percentage points, including PGVCL, UPCL, AVVNL, Manipur State Power Company Limited (MSPDCL), SBPDCL and DVVNL. Billing efficiency was below the lower threshold for scoring (82 per cent for discoms and 75 per cent for power departments) for 14 utilities.
Collection efficiency: The collection efficiency decreased by 1.2 per cent points from 97.6 per cent to 96.4 per cent. The collection efficiency was below the lower threshold (91 per cent for discoms and 90 per cent for power departments) for four utilities. Meanwhile, 22 utilities achieved a collection efficiency at or above the upper threshold of 99.5 per cent.
ACS-ARR gap: The average cost of supply (ACS)-average revenue realised (ARR) gap decreased by 20 paise per unit, from Re 0.59 per kWh in 2022-23 to Re 0.39 per kWh in 2023-24, reducing the absolute cash gap to Rs 580 billion in FY2024 from Rs 580 in the previous year.
Significant improvements of more than Rs 0.50 per kWh in the ACS-ARR gap were recorded in utilities such as India Power Corporation Limited (IPCL), Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL), UPCL, Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company Limited (GESCOM), NBPDCL, MSPDCL, Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PuVVNL), MVVNL, (TNPDCL), DVVNL and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), reflecting enhanced cost recovery and financial performance. Conversely, a deterioration was observed in TPWODL, APEPDCL, SBPDCL, MPMKVVCL, MPPoKVVCL and MESCOM, indicating increasing financial gaps that may impact the sustainability of operations.
Regulatory highlights: The aggregate tariff subsidy realisation saw a substantial decline with the realisation of 97.4 per cent in FY2024, down from 108.6 per cent in FY2023. Further, regulators issued timely tariff orders in 13 states and union territories (UTs) for FY2025. States/UTs where regulators did not issue tariff orders for FY2025 are West Bengal (IPCL), Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi (all discoms). True-up orders were issued for 61 out of 72 utilities. About 24 state regulators have implemented automatic pass-through of fuel costs, which allowed discoms to pass on the rise in power purchase costs during the year.
CSRD report highlights
REC Limited launched the fourth edition of its CSRD for fiscal year 2023-24. The report evaluates the performance of discoms across four main service areas, namely, operational reliability; connections and additional services (CoS); metering, billing and collection efficiencies; and fault rectification and grievance handling.
It covers 66 discoms, comprising 10 private and 56 state-owned entities, serving approximately 334 million consumers. Of the 66 discoms, six discoms – BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL), TPDDL, AEML, Tata Power Company Limited (TPCL) and NPCL – have secured the highest grade, A+. None of the discoms received the lowest grade, of D. Further, 22 discoms achieved an average grade of B+. Notably, the number of discoms in the top-performing categories (A+, A and B+) has doubled in the most recent fiscal year compared to the two previous years. Conversely, the percentage of discoms in the lower-grade categories has steadily declined.
Parameter-wise performance
Operational reliability: The key sub-parameters under operational reliability are hours of supply (HoS), interruption index (II) and distribution failure rate. The primary driver of this reliability is HoS, carrying a 76 per cent weightage, with discoms such as Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), BYPL, AEML, the Lakshadweep Electricity Department (ED), BRPL and TPCL demonstrating exemplary performance with an HoS of 24 hours.
The national average for HoS (urban) was found to be 23.53 hours. AEML and TPCL have the minimum interruption index (urban) of 0.12 and 0.48 respectively, with 126.72 being the national average. Lakshadweep ED (0 per cent), BRPL (0.1 per cent), AEML (0.2 per cent) and BEST (0.3 per cent) have the minimum distribution transformer failure rate, with 6.4 per cent as the national average.
Connections and other services: Despite its low weightage in the overall evaluation, CoS is crucial for customer satisfaction and regulatory compliance, with strong performance leading to grade upgrades for some discoms such as TPCL and NBPDCL, while poor performance can result in downgrades. Finally, the low score in the prosumer sub-parameter suggests a need to encourage consumer participation in renewable energy generation.
Metering, billing and collections: AEML, HESCOM, BYPL, BRPL, TPCL and TGNPDCL have achieved 100 per cent automatic meter reading (AMR)-based billing, demonstrating excellence. Conversely, Ladakh PDD, Lakshadweep ED, the Thrissur Corporation Electricity Department (TCED), Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) and Nagaland PD currently have no reliance on AMR, indicating a significant opportunity for improvement in these regions. Further, 12 discoms have demonstrated a strong commitment to prepaid electricity services, achieving a significant adoption rate, with over 10 per cent of their consumers utilising this option. These discoms include MSPDCL, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), SBPDCL, NPCL, Kanpur Electricity Supply Company (KESCO), Sikkim PD, NBPDCL, TSECL, APDCL, TPCL, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) and Arunachal PD. Further, TPCL, AEML, GESCOM, TPWODL and BESCOM complete replacements within 24 hours in urban areas, while only GESCOM achieves this within two days in rural areas.
Fault rectification and grievance redressal: Notably, all discoms have established 24×7 customer call centres for registering and resolving consumer grievances, with the exception of eight discoms – BEST, CED, Lakshadweep ED, Ladakh PDD, Mizoram PD, Nagaland PD, Sikkim PD and TCED. Leading discoms with 100 per cent compliance in providing outage alerts on mobile are 17 discoms including AEML, APCPDCL, DGVCL, NPCL, SBPDCL, MVVNL, TGNPDCL, TPDDL, PVVNL, PuVVNL, DVVNL, MPPoKVVCL, KESCO, CESCOM, Lakshadweep ED, TNPDCL and PSPCL.
DUR report
The MoP released the DUR report for FY2023-24 and employs a multi-faceted approach to performance evaluation by incorporating six broad parameters, including the already established annual IR of discoms (35 per cent weightage) and CSRD (35 per cent) frameworks. Additionally, the ranking also considers RPO achievement (5 per cent), penetration of communicable system metering (5 per cent), demand-side response (5 per cent) and resource adequacy (15 per cent). By encompassing such an all-inclusive view, these rankings aim to enhance the efficiency of power utilities, supporting India’s journey towards a more sustainable future.
For a more nuanced analysis, a total of 66 utilities are categorised into 41 distribution utilities (except urban and special category state utilities), 15 special category state utilities and 10 urban utilities.
Distribution utilities (except urban and special category state utilities) rankings Of the 41 utilities in this category, 20 scored between 60 and 75, followed by 18 in the 40-60 range, two in the 75-100 range and one in the 0-40 range.
Haryana’s UHBVNL and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) have achieved the highest combined scores of 80.8 and 78.9 respectively, with UHBVNL securing category rank 1 and the overall rank 6. This is due to their strong performance in IR and CSRD, along with a 100 per cent RPO achievement.
Odisha’s TPWODL, TPNODL and TPCODL secured positions in the top 10, with TPWODL achieving a high IR score of 91.5 and an overall rank of 10. Their consistent performance is attributed to strong IR and CSRD scores, although significant improvements are needed in RPO compliance and resource adequacy planning parameters.
RPO compliance remains a challenge across utilities, since only six of them achieved more than 75 per cent compliance and merely three met the 100 per cent requirement across all source types.
Among 41 utilities, only seven had metering scores above 75, while many recorded no scores in this parameter.
KSEBL stood out as the only utility to achieve 100 per cent communicable metering across all distribution transformers and 11 kV feeders. Additionally, its high scores in demand-side response and resource adequacy helped it secure a top 5 category ranking.
Uttar Pradesh discoms performed well in resource adequacy, with robust planning and nearly all arrangements secured. However, three of the four still ranked in the bottom six due to poor IR, demand-side response and RPO compliance scores.
Gujarat discoms, despite high CSRD and IR scores, failed to enter the top 10 list due to the absence of a resource adequacy plan as well as substantial gaps in RPO compliance and targets set by the MoP. Addressing these weaknesses could significantly improve their DUR rankings.
Bihar’s NBPDCL and SBPDCL demonstrated good performance, with NBPDCL securing a top 10 position supported by strong CSRD performance, RPO compliance, demand-side response and resource adequacy. However, NBPDCL needs to improve its IR score, while SBPDCL must enhance both IR and system metering to improve its standing in future rankings.
Maharashtra’s MSEDCL and Jharkhand’s JBVNL recorded extremely low IR scores of 1.5 and 5.6 respectively, consequently making them the worst performers in the category ranking.
Special category state utilities
Of the 15 utilities in this category, seven scored between 40-60, followed by four in the 0-40 range and two each in the 60-75 and 75-100 ranges. The highest combined score of 77.1 was achieved by Uttarakhand’s UPCL, followed closely by Assam’s APDCL with 77. Meanwhile, Lakshadweep LED recorded the lowest score of 21.5.
UPCL emerged as the top performer in this category, achieving 100 per cent resource adequacy, an RPO score of 87.5 and a CSRD score of 81.1. Notably, UPCL and Meghalaya’s MePDCL were the only utilities to achieve full scores in any parameter within this category.
Meanwhile, Jammu & Kashmir’s KPDCL and Jammu Power Distribution Company Limited (JPDCL), along with Lakshadweep LED, ranked at the bottom, both category-wise and overall, owing to their non-participation in IR assessments and weak performance across nearly every parameter. Lakshadweep LED particularly had 0 scores across all parameters except in CSRD.
APDCL was the only utility to score above 75 in the IR parameter, securing 76.5 per cent.
UPCL (100), MePDCL (100), Mizoram PD (99.2), APDCL (91.8), Sikkim PD (90.7) and Arunachal PD (90) were the leading utilities in terms of resource adequacy scores.
Metering remains a significant concern among special category states, with the highest metering score being just 50, achieved by UPCL, APDCL and KPDCL. Ladakh PDD and JPDCL scored only 25, while all other utilities recorded no scores in system metering.
Ladakh PDD stood out in demand-side response with a high score of 80, making it the only utility in this category to score above 75 in this parameter.
Urban utilities
Of the 10 utilities in this category, five scored between 75 and 100, followed by three in the 60-75 range and two in the 40-60 range, with no utility scoring between 0 and 40. Maharashtra’s AEML secured the highest combined score of 93.5, both category-wise and overall, followed by Delhi’s TPDDL with 91.2. West Bengal’s IPCL recorded the lowest score of 46.3, which, despite being the lowest in this category, remains higher than the lowest scores in the other two categories.
Urban utilities saw strong performances from AEML, TPDDL, NPCL, BYPL and BRPL, topping both category-wise and overall rankings.
Notably, all three Delhi discoms (TPDDL, BYPL and BRPL) ranked among the top five. TPDDL, in particular, is the only urban utility to score above 75 across all parameters.
Maharashtra’s AEML secured high in IR (99.8), CSRD (90), RPO (100) and communication metering (100). However, despite leading the ranking, AEML still needs improvement in terms of demand-side response.
Conversely, Maharashtra’s BEST and TPCL showcased poor performances, particularly in RPO and IR parameters, highlighting disparities in utility performance within the state.
Only AEML, TCED and TPCL achieved a perfect score of 100 in smart metering across feeders and transformers, whereas West Bengal’s IPCL was the only utility to score a 0 on this parameter.
RPO compliance was notably poor among urban utilities, with BEST, KESCO and TCED scoring 0 in this category.
KESCO secured an overall rank of 30, supported by strong CSRD and resource adequacy scores, but held back by weaknesses in RPO compliance, system metering and IR.
Non-participation in assessments led to significant ranking drops. TPCL’s absence in the IR rating resulted in a fall from 9th in category rankings to 48th overall, while IPCL’s non-participation in CSRD left it ranking at the lowest among urban utilities and 53rd overall.
Conclusion
Overall, these reports highlighted significant progress among utilities across various dimensions, but challenges still persist. Notably, the lack of widespread system metering in many states is a major concern. Many utilities also struggle to meet their RPO obligations, underscoring the need for stronger policies and incentives to accelerate renewable energy adoption. Additionally, weak demand-side response capabilities necessitate aggressive investments in smart grid technology. Further, beyond performance gaps, a few utilities also saw downgrades in their ranking due to non-participation in IR and CSRD assessments. By addressing these issues and fostering wider participation, utilities can not only improve their performance, but also ensure greater alignment with industry standards. Ultimately, such concentrated efforts would contribute towards a more reliable and sustainable power distribution network in the country.
Aastha Sharma