Power struggle in Northeast: Manipur and Assam shine, other states lag in annual consumer service ratings

New Delhi, Jan 20: Even as the Central Government and states have time and again reiterated their commitment to providing 24x7 power to ensure an uninterrupted supply of electricity, overall, the distribution companies in the Northeast need to pull up their socks when it comes to servicing customers.

Except for Manipur and Assam, most other power distribution companies (discoms) in the region that is fast emerging as one of immense strategic and economic significance to the country continue to be laggards, according to data from the third edition of the Consumer Service Ratings of Discoms for 2023.

The survey was released by Raj Kumar Singh, Union Minister for Power & New and Renewable Energy, in New Delhi on Friday.

The Manipur State Power Distribution Co. Ltd (MSPDCL) improved its rating to A from B+ in 2022 to attain the ninth rank. It also features among the top ten performers together with discoms in the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

With a B+ rating—an improvement over B in the last assessment—Assam Power Distribution Co. Ltd is at number 13 in the rankings due to sustained improvement in services.

And that’s the good news from the survey.

The bad news is that distribution companies in Tripura, Mizoram, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh continue to languish at the bottom of the rankings.

The Tripura State Electricity Corp. Ltd (TSECL) features at number 51, with its grade declining to B from a B+ rating earlier. With a 56th rank, Mizoram Power and Electricity Department (MPED) has improved to a C+ grade from C earlier, followed by Sikkim Power Development Corp. Ltd (SPDCL) at number 57 with a C+.

The Arunachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency in the thickly forested state of Arunachal Pradesh is at number 59 with a C grade, just ahead of its other underperforming peers in Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand.

Meghalaya and Nagaland missing from the rankings

Together with some of their peers in Gujarat, West Bengal and Lakshadweep, distribution companies from the states of Meghalaya and Nagaland aren’t represented in the rankings.

“These states either didn’t participate or provided insufficient data,” an official from the Ministry of Power & New and Renewable Energy informed The Assam Tribune.

All discoms in Northeastern states are placed under a special category by the government, entitling them to special incentives.

The report seeks to capture the current status of consumer services across various discoms across India, encourage healthy competition and push them to improve upon their key services.

The survey data was compiled for 62 discoms serving nearly 324 million consumers. They were measured against the benchmarks of operational reliability, connection and other services, metering, billing and collection, and fault rectification and grievance redressal while being graded.