Tata Power has taken over the Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha (CESU).

Tata Power received the Letter of Intent (LoI) from the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for the distribution and retail supply of electricity in Odisha’s five circles, consisting of Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Puri, Paradip and Dhenkanal, according to a company statement.

Tata Power has received a license for 25 years.

As per order issued by the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) on 28th May, Tata Power will hold 51 per cent equity with management control and the remaining 49 per cent will be owned by Odisha government. CESU has revenues of Rs 3,200 crore with an average power demand of 4500 MW.

According to the agreement, the company will retain all the existing employees of CESU and will govern them by their existing policy structure. Tata Power will provide better opportunities and facilities to the employees to update their knowledge and skills along with an exposure to best practices and cutting edge technologies as a part of change management in CESU.

Further, Tata Power will modernise the distribution system in the five circles. The priority of the company is to improve reliability, reduce AT&C losses and offer customer service, the company said.

Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power said, “Our tie up with CESU is a huge development for Tata Power. We are committed to provide reliable, affordable and quality power supply along with superior customer service, backed by innovative technology. The success of our Delhi, Mumbai and Ajmer Distribution businesses are testament to this fact.” Sinha had told BusinessLine earlier that privatisation of state-run power distribution companies was an area of opportunity for Tata Power.

Also, Tata Power plans to deploy smart grid technologies to supply reliable and quality power in Odisha.

Spread over 30,000 sq km, CESU has five electrical circles comprising of the areas of Bhubaneswar (Electrical Circle - I and II), Cuttack, Paradip and Dhenkanal with a population of over 1.4 crore and consumer base of 2.5 million. With CESU, Tata Power aims to expand its consumer base to 5 million consumers from 2.5 million across Mumbai, Delhi and Ajmer. The average demand of CESU is around 1,300MW with the annual input energy of 8,400MUs as on FY 2018, the company said.

In Delhi and Ajmer, Tata Power has been able reduce the AT&C losses from 53.1 per cent (July 2002) to less than 8 per cent (March 2019) in Delhi, and from 21.6 per cent (July 2017) to less than 10 per cent (August 2019) in Ajmer.

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