Last updated: December 17th, 2019 5:02 PM

Restructured Accelerated Power Development & Reforms Program (R-APDRP)

The Ministry of Power, Government of India, primarily initiated the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Program (APDRP). The objective of the scheme is to reduce the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses in the power sector and enhance the quality and dependability of power resource by establishing and upgrading the sub-transmission and distribution system of State Power Utilities. The Ministry of Power has offered to proceed on with the APDRP scheme during the XI plan with improved rules and revisions. The scheme was reorganised and renamed as Restructured Accelerated Power Development & reforms Program (R-APDRP) and was launched as a Central Sector Scheme.

Objectives of the Scheme

• To increase the financial capability by reducing Transmission & Distribution (T&D) losses
• To bring the current Aggregate Technical & Commercial (AT&C) loss of 24% to the mark of below 15%
• To strengthen and upgrade the Sub-transmission and Distribution Network, especially in towns and industrial hubs
• To overcome the shortcomings in the distribution network such as worn-out equipment, inadequate infrastructure in substations, defective meter reading, theft and burglary
• To incorporate advanced Information Technology
• To boost the quality and permanence of power supply and create customer satisfaction by offering reduced voltage fluctuations

Features of the Scheme

• The Scheme is being targeted in the urban areas, town and cities with a population of more than 30,000. The high-loaded rural areas working with separate agricultural feeders from the domestic and industrial ones are also considered under the High Voltage Distribution System (11kV).

The Project under this scheme is executed in two parts:

• Part-A focuses on the Energy Accounting and Auditing of the Baseline data considering the IT applications and SCADA-DMS based larger consumer Service Centres
• Part-B focuses on the regular electrical network improvement, augmentation, distribution and strengthening

Part-A

The Ministry of Power with the support of an Independent Agency will review and authorise the baseline data and required a system by:

• Preparation of Base data for the project area
• Overall covering of all the distribution networks by Geographical Information System Mapping
• Metering of Distribution Transformers and Feeders
• Carrying out the Automatic Data Logging by implementing Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) for all Distribution Transformers and Feeders
• Establishment of the SCADA/DMS system in heavy load (350 MU) areas, in terms of big towns and cities with more than 4 lacs population
• Segregation of the entire distribution network according to the Feeders below the 11kV transformers by Asset mapping as Low Tension lines, poles and other distribution network equipment

Establishment of IT applications Customer services centres for:

• Calculation and estimation of the meter reading
• The billing & collection of the estimated readings
• Monitoring of the energy accounting & auditing for uninterrupted power provision
• Management Information Systems to proactive decision making and coordination
• Addressing consumer issues with better solutions.

Part-B

• Renovation of the already existing projects
• Modernisation and/or strengthening of 11kV level Substations
• Transformers and Transformer Centers
• Re-conductoring of 11kV lines and also the lower capacity levels
• Load Division with local the provision of local feeders
• Load Balancing by the High Voltage Distribution Systems (11kV)
• Replacement of electromagnetic meters with tamper-proof electronics meters
• In a few cases, where the sub-transmission system is weak, strengthening at 33kV or 66kV levels may also be considered

Implementation Agency

• The Power Finance Corporation (PFC) is the monitoring and implementing agency through which the R-APDRP scheme is launched.
• The PFC is the nodal agency that acts as a single point of contact for the operation of the scheme.
• It harmonises all the activities between the Ministry of Power, APDRP steering committee, Central Electrical Authority, Financial Institutions, State Electricity Boards, consultants and all the other stakeholders.

PFC undertakes the following aspects in establishing and executing the R-APDRP project by:

• Providing the necessary support to APDRP Steering Committee and MoP
• Monitoring of implementation of Part-A&B
• Examining & recommending deviation

Funds Allotted

The additional investments for the above thresholds are estimated based on the projects sanctioned for R-APDRP:

1. A total estimated cost of Rs.15,870 Crores is allotted for the establishment of the R-APDRP, and the fund is allocated as follows:
   • A sum of Rs.1,610 Crores is disbursed across 1289 towns for the establishment and functioning of project R-APDRP Part-A
   • A sum of Rs.11,892 Crores is disbursed for the upgradation and strengthening of already existing 1289 towns under the project of R-APDRP Part-B
2. The sum of Rs.1,368 Crores is allocated for the establishment of SCADA that covers around 76 densely populated towns.

Funding Pattern

A 100% loan is sanctioned by the Government of India for the implementation of R-APDRP. Part-A, which includes the projects for the establishment and enhancement of the Baseline data and the IT-based consumer services.

• 25% of the Projects cost is sanctioned as a loan by the Government of India for the 90% for special category States for R-APDRP- Part-B schemes to regularise the distribution and strengthening projects.
• The entire loan from GoI is routed through PFC/REC (FIs) for the respective schemes funded by them. The counterpart funding is done by PFC/REC (FIs) as per its prevailing policy.
• PFC/REC is the primary lender for funding these schemes.
• In case of default by the utility, the commercial loan of PFC/REC is recovered first before that of any other lender for funding such schemes.

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility of the R-APDRP assistance is carried-out by the States Service or Utilities as:

1. The Representing organisation of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

• • Accomplishing the following target of AT&C loss reduction with respect to the service level
  • Utilities having AT&C loss above 30%: Reduction by 3% per year
  • Utilities having AT&C loss below 30%: Reduction by 1.5% per year

2. Scheduling and Committing to a fixed time frame for initiation of the measures for better liability at all levels in the project area.

• The Independent Agency verifies and approves the previous Year’s AT&C loss figures of identified project area appointed by the Ministry of Power (MoP) by following:
• All the input points should be identified and metered with downloadable meters for energy inflow accounting in the scheme area.
• All the outgoing feeders should be metered in the substation with downloadable meters
• The Scheme area should be ring-fenced, i.e., export and import meters for energy accounting should be ensured besides segregating the rural load.
• All the energy readings and the respective cash should be collected for calculating the AT&C losses.
• The calculated and collected billings should be verified and filed by the Independent Agency for at least three billing series.
• The attained losses should form the baseline for counting the conversion of loan into a grant for Part-B projects.

3. Formulating or Templating a proper incentive scheme for the staff that are linked to the accomplishments of a 15% decrease in AT&C in the project area.