NO.H.11019/17/09-JERC     

JOINT ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION

    FOR MANIPUR AND MIZORAM

    AIZAWL : : : MIZORAM

D-31, M.G.Road, Upper Khatla

Aizawl,Mizoram-796001

Tel. No. : 0389-2310623

 Fax: 0389-230129

Website: www.jerc.mizoram.gov.in

Email: jerc.mm@gmail.com

Dated Aizawl, the 7th July, 2011

 

 

 

MINUTES OF THE 6th MEETING OF THE STATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR THE STATE OF MIZORAM

Venue       :  Conference Hall, I & PR Directorate, Aizawl (Mizoram)

Date          :  29th June, 2011

 

                        The list of participants is appended. 

The 6th Meeting of the State Advisory Committee for the State of Mizoram began with a welcome speech from Pu C. Hmingthanzuala, IAS (Retd), Chairperson, JERC and the Chairman of the SAC at Conference Hall of I & PR Directorate, Aizawl on 29th June,  2011.  The Chairman also briefly introduced Pu A. Chhawnmawia, Secretary, Pu Lalhmathuoi Khobung, Dy Chief (Legal) and Pu H. Thanthianga, Assistant Chief (Engineering) who have recently joined the Commission, to the Members of the Committee.

Initiating the Agenda – wise discussion, the Chairman drew the attention of the Members to the Agenda No.1 and sought the nod of the Committee for confirmation of the Minutes of the 4th Meeting of the Committee.

Agenda 1.   Confirmation of the Minutes of the 5th State Advisory Committee Meeting 

 

After getting the nod from the Members, the Chairman declared that the Minutes of the 5th Meeting stand confirmed.

 

Agenda 2.   Augmentation of Transmission & Distribution System

 

The Chairman then took up the next Agenda and briefly explained to the Committee Members the importance of the Agenda which relates to the development of Infrastructure required for receiving & distributing the additional allocated share of  about 50 MW power that the State of Mizoram is going to receive from the Generation Projects coming up in North Eastern Region like Bongaigaon Thermal Power Plant (3x250MW) in Assam, Pallatana Gas Based Power Plant (2x363MW) in Tripura and Subansiri HE Project (8x250MW) in Arunachal Pradesh in about a years time. The Chairman expressed the desire to know from the Department if it is fully prepared to receive the additional share. The Chairman then requested Mr. H. Bihari Singh, Member, JERC to throw more light on the important topic so that the Members can participate in the discussion and offer their views and suggestions in the larger interest of consumers of the State.

 

Mr. H. Bihari Singh, Member, JERC elaborated the facts about the existing Transmission & Distribution System in the State and also the provisions made by the State for augmentation of the Transmission, Transformation and Distribution Capacities in near future keeping in view the load growth in the State.

 

The Member stated that the existing inter-State transmission system comprising of 3 Nos. of 132 KV S/C lines coming from Kumarghat, Badarpur and Jiribam and terminating at Aizawl may be adequate for drawing State’s requirement for another 2(two) years or so. The Member however, emphasized the need for construction of 400KV line from Silchar to Aizawl and augmentation of the Intra-State Transformation and Distribution Capacities which appear to be disproportionate as of now, to a level commensurate with the demand of the Consumers. The Member requested Pu Lalnunmawia Sailo, CE (S.O.) representing E-in-C of P&E Deptt., to place before the SAC the arrangements being made by the P&E Department in this regard.

 

Pu Lalnunmawia Sailo, CE (S.O.) briefly narrated about the arrangements being made by the Department under different schemes of the Government of India and the State Govt. He informed that Bongaigaon and Pallatana power will be evacuated through 400KV multicircuit transmission lines from Pallatana to Bongaigaon via Silchar in Assam. Under the long term plan the inter-state bulk power transfer between Mizoram and North Eastern Regional Grid will be made through a 400KV D/C transmission line from 400KV S/S at Silchar to 400KV S/S at Sakawrtuichhun (near Aizawl). All these 400KV lines and substations will be constructed by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd and will be kept under the central sector transmission system. He further stated that the State Govt. has made a proposal for construction of its own 400KV S/S at Sihmui (near Aizawl) in the vicinity of 6Km from the Regional 400KV S/S of PGCIL at Sakawrtuichhun. He also assured that a sound system having adequate & proportionate Transmission, Transformation and Distribution Capacity shall be put in place by the time when additional power is available from the new Generation Projects.

 

Coming to the second issue which relates to the ambitious planning of having 2(two) Nos of 400 KV Sub-Stations in the State-one at Sakawrtuichhun to be owned by PGCI and another at Sihhmui to be owned by the State; both located within a small distance of only 6 Kms, the Member expressed the apprehension that such a creation of asset at an estimated cost of ` 69 crores may have a heavy impact on the electricity tariff of the State and wanted it to be discussed thoroughly before a nod is given to the capital intensive proposition.

 

Pu _ Sailo, Secretary, Mizoram Consumers’ Union also took part in the discussion and wanted a clarification on how the cost of the Sub-Station would affect the tariff. In reply, the Member, JERC made it clear that, any expenditure incurred by the P&E Department on either creation of asset, or purchase of power, or salary of the employee or R&M cost etc, will have to be accounted appropriately into the annual expense (ARR) and when the expense is more, the tariff will also be more.

 

The Chairman expressed the desire to know if the 400KV Sub-Station at Sihhmui is a necessity when there is a similar Sub-Station owned by PGCI at the near vicinity. In reply, Pu Lalnunmawia Sailo, CE (S.O.) further explained that the Department has made the proposal for having a State owned 400 KV Sub-Station at Sihhmui which will be connected to the Regional 400 KV Sub-Station at Sakawrtuichhun by a 400 KV D/C line, and earmarked a provision in the Budget Estimate for the current year.

 

Pu. Lalnunmawia Sailo, CE (S.O.) stated that the State wanted to have 400KV S/S of its own with a primary reason that such an arrangement would make it convenient for the State to draw more power in future when the growth is really high and also to evacuate power from the Generation Projects like Tuirial HE Project (60MW), Tuivai HE Project (210MW) and Kolodyne HE Project Stage –II (460MW) etc.

 

Members,   Pu    B.   _   Retd   ( C E, P&E Deptt)   Pu   _    Sailo   and   Pu  K. Lalhmingthanga also took part in the discussion and wanted to appreciate the vision of the State Government that appears essential from the development perspective of the State.

 

After long deliberations, the Committee decided to inform the Department to get the techno-economic feasibility of the proposed scheme established in consultation with CEA and place the outcome of the Study in the next S.A.C. Meeting.

 

Agenda 3.   Reduction of Loss

 

            The Chairman then drew the attention of the Committee to the next Agenda which has three distinct features and explained briefly the importance of Reduction of Loss and its significant impact on the retail electricity tariff. Member, JERC continued to stress the need for providing all kinds of Consumers with energy meters which are periodically Standardized/ Calibrated as per the CEA norms. Meters provided but not Standardized/ Calibrated regularly, may mean as if it is not working as expected.

 

The Chairman wanted to know from the P&E Department side, the steps initiated so far for reduction of loss.

 

In reply, the CE (S.O.), P&E Department informed the Committee that the Department has already directed all the Maintenance Sub-Divisions to deploy inspection team which is authorized to detect and identify theft of energy and pilferage cases in its jurisdictions. These inspection teams have been discharging their duties, however theft and pilferage cases have apparently outnumbered them. Therefore, the Department is considering to deploy more teams to ensure that the initiatives yield positive results.

 

The CE (S.O.), P&E Department went on to add that – Shortage of Energy meters and use of defective meters are other issues which do not allow the Department to go for successful implementation of the Loss Reduction Programme. Moreover, tampering and bypassing of the energy meters are apparently rampant now among the consumers. The CE, P& E Department therefore appealed through the Committee to all consumers to extend co-operation to the Department to enable it to serve better.

 

Effective Drives to minimize accumulation of arrears and disconnection of defaulters are other areas where the Department has been facing difficulties.  In this connection, Pu Lalduhzuala Sailo, SE (Comml) also pointed out that a proposal for designation of Judges for Special Court(s) to deal with the electricity theft and unauthorized cases as per EA 2003 has been submitted to the Government alongwith the request to deploy Police force to assist & provide security coverage on the Staffs engaged in the anti-theft/ detection of unauthorized consumers activities. However, the decision of the Government is still awaited.

 

The Member, JERC also endorsed the views of the Department on theft control measures. He informed the Committee that procedures are laid down in the Regulations made by the Commission for taking punitive action against defaulters so as to strengthen the power of the Utility. He stated that the Department would have to continue to strictly follow the guidelines and steps to be taken for prevention of theft or unauthorized use of Electricity. He desired that the P&E Deptt shall persue the Govt. for Constitution of the Special Court at an early date. On shortage of Energy meters and use of defective meters, the Member JERC pointed out that there were no such instances as per the data furnished earlier to the Commission. The Committee decided that the Department shall prepare a scheme for 100% metering plan and this would include all the shortages and defective meters.

 

Many Members of the Committee took part in the discussion and wanted that the loss is reduced to the minimal within a shortest possible time.

 

Dr. H. Vanlalhluna, representing AMFU offered the view that the general public/ consumers may be made aware of their duties & responsibilities through motivation in the Educational Institutes and Mass Media and also felt that frequent surprise check would give fruitful result.

Pu B. _, Retd CE (P&E Deptt) suggested that imparting training to sensitize the lower level staffs of the Department and instill in their minds the Commercial aspect of the job would be useful.

 

Pu K. Lalmingthanga, President, MCI & C was confident that involvement of NGOs like YMA and other voluntary organizations in the social reformation process would yield positive results in favour of the Department.

 

Pu _ Sailo, Secretary, MCU felt that making frequent appeal to the General Public in different media may be helpful.

 

Mr. N. Shyamsundar Singh, C(E), JERC also took part in the discussion and appreciated the Department for making substantial progress in 100 p.c. metering of the consumers. The C(E), JERC suggested that the energy outflow from a Distribution Transformer (DT) may be compared with the total energy received by the consumers as per the bills, to find out the area where maximum loss occurs. Once the area is located then, assistance from NGOs, Local Clubs and Village Councils may be sought to identify and book the culprits indulging in stealing of energy.

 

The Member, JERC also endorsed the suggestion of the C(E), JERC as an effective tool for detection & identification of culprits who use electricity through illegal means. He suggested that energy audit may be started to all the areas covered by the distribution transformer provided with energy meters and then identify the areas where maximum losses are occurred. The Committee thereafter decided to recommend the suggestions of the Members for early implementation by concerned authorities.

 

After long deliberations, the SAC took a decision to request both the Government and the Department to gear up the progress of implementation of 100 p.c. Metering and Energy Audit and complete it as early as possible in order to see that the process of reduction of loss is enhanced and the burden on the ideal consumers is also reduced.

 

The Chairman, in conclusion, termed the discussions as meaningful and productive and thanked the Members once again for their well-thought views and actions participation in the deliberations.

 

The Meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

 

 

 

Sd/- C. HMINGTHANZUALA

Chairman

State Advisory Committee Mizoram

 

 

Memo No.H.11019/17/09-JERC             :                  Dated Aizawl, the 7th July, 2011.

Copy to:

  1. P.S to Hon’ble Chief Minister, i/c P&E Department, Govt. of Mizoram for kind information to the Hon’ble Chief Minister.
  2. PS to Secretary, P&E Department, Govt. of Mizoram  for kind information to the Secretary and for taking necessary action on the Minutes of the Meeting.
  3. All Members / Special Invitee / Invitees of the State Advisory Committee and for taking necessary action on the Minutes of the Meeting.
  4.  Guard File.

 

 

 

(A. CHHAWNMAWIA)

Secretary

Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission

For Manipur & Mizoram.