Jharkhand Rural Distribution Opportunity, Expert Opinions and IUKAN 2014 Updates - Dec, 2013 Newsletter

This is a newsletter for the month of Dec, 2013 sent to mailing list of pManifold sharing Power Distribution Franchisee industry opportunities and updates. 

Some of the recent updates from the Power Distribution Franchisee model are mentioned below. Hope, you find it useful.   

New Opportunities

• Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) has floated tender for appointment of Rural Distribution Franchisee in its 8 areas under different sub-divisions. Last date of bid submission is 17th Dec, 2013. (More details can be seen at NIT, RFP, DFA)  

Expert Opinions

• Views on Managed IT services for Distribution Franchisee by Mr. Ananth Chandramouli, Head - Energy and Utilities, Infosys (Read here)

Trends & Analytics

• CARE Research recent report on Power Transmission and Distribution indicates Distribution Franchisee as a preferred model for PPP route in the sector (Read here)

Update on IUKAN Annual Conference 2014

• In the last 2 weeks, me and my colleagues have spoken to industry leaders from over 200+ companies across power and water sectors. The response has been extremely overwhelming especially for the Best Practices Awards being launched with IUKAN. 
  • If you still haven't nominated your company for Utility Best Practice Awards, then please nominate now. Download the form online or get in touch with us. Last date for submission is 25th Dec, 2013. (See detailed list of business areas for nomination)
• Online registration for the conference is now open. Early bird registration ends on 1st January, 2014. Use Discount code - IUKAN2014-EARLYBIRD to avail 20% discount.
• See updated list of IUKAN Advisors here.

pManifold's Utility Practice can be viewed here, If you would like to know more about us, please contact at kunjan.bagdia@pmanifold.com.

Posted by: Kunjan Bagdia @ pManifold

ADB to provide $10bn assistance to India, ENPAR signs licensing agreement with Fontus Water, Best Practice Awards at IUKAN 2014 and more...

This is a newsletter sent to mailing list of pManifold, sharing Water Distribution Industry opportunities and updates.

Some of the recent updates in the Water Distribution space are shared below. 

New Water Project Highlights in Nov-2013

• 5.75Cr. Rs. sanctioned to Kerala Water Authority (KWA) for replacing old pipelines at Kochi more...
• ADB to provide $10 bn assistance to India till 2017 more...
• ENPAR Signs Licensing Agreement With Fontus Water Pvt Ltd. more..
• Drinking Water & Sanitation Department, Jharkhand, has invited bids for the water supply project in Ranchi district more... 
• Kerala Water Authority (KWA) soon to start 24x7 Helpline in pipeline facility more...
• Hyderabad launches project to reduce water losses more...

Top News Highlights of Nov-2013

• India a largest PPP market in the world more...
• Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation's 24x7 water supply project to be reality soon more...
• World Plumbing Conference calls for quality checks on unorganized plumbers in India more...

Articles of Nov-2013

• Three Karnataka towns lead the way in providing 24x7 water supply in demo zonesmore...
• Indian conglomerate Essar Group targets growth in water treatment, desalination market more...
• Report - Water utilities in India more...

Upcoming Water Events

• 11th EverythingAboutWater Expo 2014  9-11 January 2014, Delhi
• Water Today's Water Expo 20-22 January 2014, Chennai
• IUKAN 2014 13 February 2014, Delhi
• India Water Expo Ahmadabad, 7-9 Feb 2014

Case Studies

• If you are prospecting to enter in Water Utilities as Operator or Service Provider or Vendor - learn some best practices through case studies from pManifold (Water Utility Case Studies).

Indian Utility Knowledge and Networking (IUKAN) 2014 

• In the last 2 weeks, me and my colleagues have spoken to industry leaders from over 200+ companies across power and water sectors. The response has been extremely overwhelming especially for the Best Practices Awards being launched with IUKAN. 
  • If you still haven't nominated your company for Utility Best Practice Awards, then please nominate now. Download the form online or get in touch with us. Last date for submission is 25th Dec, 2013. (See detailed list of business areas for nomination)
• Online registration for the conference is now open. Early bird registration ends on 1st January, 2014. Use Discount code - IUKAN2014-EARLYBIRD to avail 20% discount.
• See updated list of IUKAN Advisors here.  

We hope you will find the content informative and useful. Your queries, feedback and suggestions are welcome. I can be reached at +91 99704 62580 and mohammad.sufiyan@pmanifold.com for any support, we can extend to your efforts.

Views on Managed IT services for Distribution Franchisees by Mr. Ananth Chandramouli, Head - Energy and Utilities, Infosys

Mr. Ananth Chandramouli, Head - 
Energy and Utilities, Infosys 

Indian Power market has fast changed and further evolving post unbundling reforms. There is rapid emergence of various private/PPP models across Power Distribution. There is high attractiveness of the end B2C Power Distribution business, as it brings cash for all other businesses in the value chain. The recent surgence of Franchisee models in Distribution has raised the end-service delivery & price value expectations of the end-customers, which is putting more and more pressure on utilities to bring efficiencies and streamline their operations and overall IT.

pManifold team recently spoke to Mr. Ananth Chandramouli, Head - Energy & Utilities, Infosys to understand about their IT solutions Utility-in-a-box (UIB), an innovative cloud-based platform for Utilities. The below shared are author's personal views and not to be associated with any of their company's association.

1. Please elaborate Infosys’s Utility-in-Box (UIB) IT solution? (phase wise Modules implemented, current deployment stage (whether LIVE), key features, hardware requirements, team size for setup and regular running, business engagement model (Capex vs. Opex based), next planned add-ons, etc.)
• Infosys UIB is a cloud based solution suitable for Utilities and Distribution Franchisees (DFs). The complete platform including hardware, software, data centre etc. is hosted and managed by Infosys and available on “pay as you go” (opex) model to the Utilities/DFs. Only network connectivity at site and office infrastructure (PCs, printers etc.) has to be procured by the Utility/DF. Infosys has already done capital investment in the state of the art centralized IT infrastructure, which can be shared by multiple DFs/Utilities. This helps DFs in two ways. 
• First, the CAPEX cost for IT is converted into recurring OPEX cost; this not only provides cash outflow predictability but also reduces the debt/equity investment by DFs.
• Second, this common infrastructure is designed to be used by multiple DFs hence the cost of hardware, software and services cost are apportioned amongst multiple users. This allows DFs to use this infrastructure at the fraction of the cost that they would have to shell out if they buy such systems at their own.
• UIB has pre-configured, field tested and optimized processes complying with Indian regulatory requirements so it is fast to implement and can be made up and running in about 3 months either in a big bang or phased manner depending on the readiness of the Utility/DF. This allows DFs to save substantial cost and time. It covers all key utility processes such as Connection Management (New Connection, Change of Name, Meter Shifting, Reconnection, Load Enhancement), Meter to Cash (Meter Reading, Tariff Administration, Billing, Collection), Revenue Assurance and Recovery (Disconnection and Dismantling, Vigilance), Meter Data Acquisition and Energy Audit (Meter Data Acquisition, Meter Data Management, Validation, Estimation and Energy Audit), Customer Care, Work Asset Management and Maintenance Management. 
• UIB is Smart Grid ready and the next avatar of UIB will have even more features to help Utilities/DFs realize the vision of Smart Grid without making huge investments in IT. Few of these features are - AMI based centralized prepayment, Remote connect/disconnect, Demand Response etc.

DJB planning to offer more PPP Projects in water space, Suez Environment & Pratibha Industries bagged new projects in water, IUKAN2014 and more...

This is a newsletter sent to mailing list of pManifold, sharing Water Distribution Industry opportunities and updates.

Some of the recent updates in the Water Distribution space are shared below. 

New Water Project Highlights in Oct-2013

• Suez Environment won contracts worth Rs. 20 million euros from state-bodies of Karnataka and Maharashtra more...
• Pratibha industries bagged worth Rs. 516 Cr. water supply project in Rajasthan more...
• DJB is planning to offer more PPP projects in water space more...
• Tamil Nadu state government allots Rs. 717 Cr. for drinking water projects more...

Top News Highlights of Oct-2013

• Goa planning to supply 24x7 water by end of 2014 more...
• Pune's water meter project likely to take off after 3 unsuccessful attempts more...
• World Bank to provide $360 million loan for water projects in Uttar Pradesh more...
• Agra's potable water project to complete by 2016 more...
• Ahmedabad citizens will soon get 24x7 water supply more...

Articles of Oct-2013

• Successful water PPPs in India need full political support - Veolia India Executive more...

  Upcoming Water Events

• World Plumbing Conference 14-15 November, Delhi
• India Water Expo  21-23 November 2013, Chennai
• 11th EverythingAboutWater Expo 2014  9-11 January 2014, Delhi
• IUKAN 2014 13 February 2014, Delhi
• India Water Expo 7-9 February 2014, Ahmedabad

Blogs

• Interview with Mr.Rahul Gowardhan, Director - HR at OCW on the Opportunities and Key Challenges as an Operator in Water Distribution Space more... 

Case Studies

• If you are prospecting to enter in Water Utilities as Operator or Service Provider or Vendor - learn some best practices through case studies from pManifold (Water Utility Case Studies).

Indian Utility Knowledge and Networking (IUKAN) 2014

IUKAN is back! Its Bigger...Its Better!!! (Block your dates)

The pManifold team brings to you the 2nd Annual Conference of India Utility Knowledge and Networking forum (13-February-2014 | Le Meridien, New Delhi) with focus on Power and Water Distribution Utilities. The theme for this edition is  'Complimenting Reforms Bottom-up through Improved Operationalization and Engaged Local Ecosystem', with separate focused tracks in Power Distribution (see Power Track Agenda) and Water & Waste Water (see Water Track Agenda).

 
For Best Practice Awards (Get in touch Now to Nominate yourself)

The Awards intend to recognize best practices employed at all business and operating levels of a water, waste water and power distribution utilities thereby driving improve service levels across the industry. If you want to be recognized as the leader in a particular area, then get in touch with us to discuss/nominate. 
                    

We hope you will find the content informative and useful. Your queries, feedback and suggestions are welcome. I can be reached at mohammad.sufiyan@pmanifold.com for any support, we can extend to your efforts.

PESU DF on-hold, Essel begins Muzaffarpur DF, IUKAN 2014 - Nov, 2013 Newsletter

This is a newsletter for the month of Nov, 2013 sent to mailing list of pManifold sharing Power Distribution Franchisee industry opportunities and updates.

Last month has been slow for Power Distribution Franchisee industry, as 2 opportunities (i.e. PESU Distribution Franchisee and Jaipur's Technical Feasibility Consultant) have seen little progress. Please see below more information about the updates. 

Existing Opportunities

• PESU bid stands cancelled, as of now. (Read here) 

Roll Outs & Updates

• Essel Utilities takes over power distribution in Muzaffarpur, Bihar from 1st Nov, 2013. (Read here)
• Spanco Nagpur Discom Limited (SNDL) to launch SMS service for complaints lodging and bill updates for its consumers. (Read here)
• Financial bid opening and evaluation for consultancy assistance to implement Distribution Franchisee in Jaipur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd (JVVNL) is still due. (Stay tuned for updates)

​Indian Utility Knowledge and Networking (IUKAN) 2014

IUKAN is back! Its Bigger...Its Better!!! (Block your dates)

The pManifold team brings to you the 2nd Annual Conference of India Utility Knowledge and Networking forum (13-February-2014 | Le Meridien, New Delhi) with focus on Power and Water Distribution Utilities. The theme for this edition is  'Complimenting Reforms Bottom-up through Improved Operationalization and Engaged Local Ecosystem', with separate focused tracks in Power Distribution (see Power Track Agenda) and Water & Waste Water (see Water Track Agenda).

 
For Best Practice Awards (Get in touch Now to Nominate yourself)

The Awards intend to recognize best practices employed at all business and operating levels of a water, waste water and power distribution utilities thereby driving improve service levels across the industry. If you want to be recognized as the leader in a particular area, then get in touch with us to discuss/nominate. 

pManifold's Utility Practice can be viewed here, If you would like to know more about us, please contact at kunjan.bagdia@pmanifold.com.

Posted by: Kunjan Bagdia @ pManifold

Interview with Col. Gowardhan - HR Director, OCW on the key challenges and future plans for 24 x 7 water supply project at Nagpur

The interview showcases the key challenges and future plans of the 24x7 water supply operator for the city of Nagpur, as told to Mohammad.Sufiyan@pManifold.com

Nagpur 24x7 water supply project is the first urban water supply project in India. Could you, at the outset, help us understand the current status of the Project?

Nagpur comes along as the first big urban water supply project on Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model. In this Project, Orange City Water Pvt. Ltd. (OCW) is to upgrade city water distribution network through rehabilitation of the existing network and laying new network to achieve 24x7 uninterrupted water supply to city of Nagpur.The work is in progress under JnNRUM scheme. The plan agreed and approved for 5 years and in last 18 months OCW has been able to lay about 250 km of pipe line and done more than 26000 new service connections. One zone is already operating on 24x7 basis and few areas will be shortly added to 24x7 list as work in 3 areas is nearing completion.  Further to that, OCW is currently working in almost 30% of the city to improve the water mains network.

Rs.400 Cr Water Supply Projects up for tendering in Baneta and Bikaner; L&T and SPML win projects in Water Space, IUKAN 2014 - October 2013

This is a newsletter sent to mailing list of pManifold, sharing Water Distribution Industry opportunities and updates.

Some of the recent updates in the Water Distribution space are shared below. We hope you'll find the content informative and useful.

New Water Project Highlights in Sep-2013

• L&T Construction has won orders in water segment worth Rs 1,141 Cr. more... 
• SPML Infra bagged order worth Rs.772.20 Cr. more... 
• Shriram EPC(SEPC) has won orders worth Rs. 389 Cr. from Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan municipal corporation more... 
• Bids invited for Baneta Water supply scheme - estimated contract value of Rs.75 Cr. more...
• Bids invited for Bikaner Water supply project - estimated contract value of Rs.298 Cr. more...

Top News Highlights of Sep-2013

• Asian Development Bank (ADB) is likely to provide $400 Million (Approx Rs.2488.2 Cr.) loan to improve the water and sanitation system in Kolkata more...
• Asian Development Bank has recently sanctioned 130 Cr. To improve water distribution systems in Agartala more... 
• Now “Water ATM machines” to bring reforms in life of peoples in India more...

Articles of Sep-2013

• Why urbanization is a problem all over Asia? more... 
• Poor water supply system becoming a massacre for Delhi’s poor people more... 
• Goa to achieve self sufficiency by 2015 more...

  Upcoming Water Events

• India’s Leading Trade fair for Water, Sewage, Refuse and Recycling 24-26 October 2013, Mumbai, India
• India water forum 2013, 28-30 Oct 2013, New Delhi
• India Water Expo  21-23 November 2013, Chennai, India
• 11th EverythingAboutWater Expo 2014  9-11 January 2014, Delhi, India
• IUKAN 2014 12-13 February 2014, Delhi, India
• India Water Expo  Ahmadabad, 7-9 March 2014, India

Case Studies

• If you are prospecting to enter in Water Utilities as Operator or Service Provider or Vendor - learn some best practices through case studies from pManifold (Water Utility Case Studies)

If you would like to know more about us, please contact at mohammad.sufiyan@pmanifold.com

pManifold India Water Utility Updates - September 2013

This is a newsletter sent to mailing list of pManifold sharing Water Distribution Industry opportunities and updates.

pManifold takes this opportunity to bring you a refined collection of news, deals, events and reforms in the Indian Water Utility space.

Top News Highlights

• SPML Infra Ltd has won new orders worth Rs. 1,802.10 crore projects. Out of which 802.10 Cr. were received from PHED for water supply schemes in 3 districts. 
• Pratibha Industries has bagged a water supply project worth Rs. 205 Cr. from the Public Health Engineering Department, Jaipur.
• Ahmedabad 24x7 water supply project costs expected to be around 2600 Cr. for 14 lakh connections in the city. 
• Aurangabad water project likely to start soon - Civic Chief
• Pimpri-Chinchwad 24x7 water supply plan gains momentum. Two more suburbs likey to have 24x7 water supply within two months. 
• Vishakhapatnam's 30,000 households to get 24-hour water supply from July 2014. 
• Cuttack 24x7 water supply project worth Rs. 325 Cr. to start soon. 
• Chandigarh Municipal Corporation to do surprise checks to detect water thefts. 
• Piramal Water uses Water ATM’s to deliver safe drinking water to villages at the cost of 30 paise per litre. 
• Belgaum experts claims 24x7 water supply is unaffordable for the poor citizen. 
• Reforming Energy subsidies could curb India’s water stress. 
• The Saga of 24x7 water supply. 

Upcoming Water Events

• Water management in India 2013, 11-12 Sep 2013, Delhi
• Water management in India 2013, 13 Sep 2013, Ahmedabad
• India water forum 2013, 28-30 Oct 2013, New Delhi
• India Water Expo  21-23 Nov 2013, Chennai
• 11th EverythingAboutWater Expo 2014  9-11 Jan 2014, Delhi
• India Utility Knowledge and Networking (IUKAN) Conference 2014, 12-13 Feb 2014, New Delhi
• India Water Expo 7-9 March 2014, Ahmedabad

Case Studies

• If you are prospecting to enter in Water Utilities as Operator or Service Provider or Vendor - learn some best practices through case studies from pManifold (Water Utility Case Studies).

If you would like to know more about us, please contact at mohammad.sufiyan@pmanifold,com

Jharkhand's DF on-hold, PESU bids again extended, MoP New Initiatives, IUKAN 2014 - Oct, 2013 Newsletter

This is a newsletter sent to mailing list of pManifold sharing Power Distribution Franchisee industry opportunities and updates.

Some of the recent updates in the Power Distribution Franchisee space are shared below. Hope, you will find it useful.

Existing Opportunities

• Last date of PESU bid submission has been extended (now multiple repeat) until22nd Oct, 2013. (Share your views on 'Why PESU Distribution Franchisee bid is getting multiple times extended?')
• Last date of bid submission for appointment of Distribution Franchisee for four 11kV feeders of Godhra (W) sub-division has been extended until 8th Oct, 2013. (Read here) 

Roll Outs & Updates

• Bids for consultancy assistance to implement Distribution Franchisee in Jaipur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd (JVVNL) has been submitted by four companies (Crisil, PwC, IL&FS and Feedback). Financial bid opening is still due. (Read here)
• Jharkhand's Ranchi and Jamshedpur Input based Distribution Franchisee is put 'On-hold', as State Power Minister is planning to conduct an audit to evaluate the feasibility of the model. (Read here)

New Initiatives

• Ministry of Power (MoP) proposes to bring Management Responsibility for State owned DISCOMs through proposed new bill by state governments to ensure financial and operational turnaround and long term sustainability of electricity distribution. (Read here) 
• MoP has recently released 'Smart Grid Vision and Roadmap for India' with an overarching policy objective of Access, Availability and Affordability of Power for All. (Read here)
• MoP has set up a group that is working on ways to implement the plan which will require a separation of the distribution and the retail supply business, with separate licences for each. (Read here)

Share your vote

• Should centre mandatorily extend R-APDRP funding to all Franchisee towns to enable better franchisee operationalization and also viability? (Vote here)

Indian Utility Knowledge and Networking (IUKAN) 2014

• pManifold team is glad to bring 2nd Annual IUKAN 2014 Conference, on 12-13th Feb 2014 at New Delhi. IUKAN 2014 theme is 'Complementing Reforms Bottom-up: Through Improved Operationalization and Engaged Local Ecosystem. (See draft Conference Agenda)
• One of the distinction of IUKAN 2014 is first of its kind Best Utility Awards to recognize operational best practices and innovations across multiple processes. 
• On 1st day, we shall be hosting 2-4 parallel workshops, interested Service Providers can connect to us for more details.

pManifold's Utility Practice can be viewed here, If you would like to know more about us, please contact at kunjan.bagdia@pmanifold.com.

Posted by: Kunjan Bagdia @ pManifold

New Report Available: Interim / Mini Power Franchisee Market in India 2013

There are exciting developments in the broader private participation in Indian Utilities in - Network O&M, Customer Services and Revenue improvements. While most heard models are Delhi PPP model; Bhiwandi Input Based Franchisee model; Orissa's Smart metering model; and J&K's new PPP Concessionaire model; a new Interim/Mini Franchisee model is building fast traction.

Alike other models, the Interim Franchisee model is similar turnkey Network, O&M and MRBD Management, but works on much smaller aggregations like malls, townships, SEZ, airports etc. This small volume aggregation comes at much reduced operational & financial risks, offers definite returns, and allows easy entry for new players because of no strict QRs. The model has high scalability in growing Metros and Tier-2/3 towns with multiple aggregations, allowing good economy-of-scale. It also offers high economy-of-scope, as same competence can be extended to undertake broader EE and utility O&M projects.

pManifold Team has dived deeper to research this emerging model and proudly present to you our new report 'Interim / Mini Power Franchisee Market in India 2013'. (See Table of Content and Executive Summary here).

Some add-on top level takeaways and benefits of this report: 

• This model also known by 'Single Point Connection' is operating in 4+ states (Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab) and is poised for fast growth with rapid urbanization and integrated townships development
• This model has high scalability, and with its proximity and stickiness to clustered end-customers, it could become precursor to bigger Smart Grid and Energy Management Solutions deployment
• Current service providers in this space are non-organised and fragmented. There is good scope for competent products, solutions and service providers to offer O&M; Metering, Billing and Collection (MBC); Customer Services; Back-up power supply provisioning; and Loss reduction
• This could be good go-to-market opportunity to build QRs for bigger Input Franchisee projects:
• Metering, EE and allied product/solution companies to build service portfolio and co-create their offerings with end-customers
• International players and PE Investors to capture market share of scalable utility O&M Indian business
• Domestic Infra players to build B2C customer-centric services expertise and QRs

If you would like to know more about the report, please contact at kunjan.bagdia@pManifold.com

Posted by Kunjan Bagdia @ pManifold

Jaipur Franchisee opportunity, Updates from PESU & Dhanbad, Expert Interviews, pManifold's New Report Launch - Sep, 2013 Newsletter

This is a newsletter sent to mailing list of pManifold sharing Power Distribution Franchisee industry opportunities and updates.

Last month, the Power Distribution industry saw various developments across different states. Some of these are mentioned below. We hope you will find them useful.  

New Opportunities

• Jaipur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd (JVVNL) has floated a tender for Consultancy assistance to implement Distribution Franchisee in its 3 Discoms namely Jaipur, Ajmer and Jodhpur. 3 discoms have 18 areas for the study. Last date of bid submission is 26th September, 2013. (Read here)
• Bihar Discom has floated tenders for selection of implementing agency for 'Strengthening, Improvement and Augmentation of Distribution System Capacity" under Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme on Turnkey basis. (Read here)

Moving from Electrical Contractor to 'Specialised O&M Managed Services Partner' for Power Distribution Franchisees

Mr. Gagan Aggarwal, MD,
Creative Entrepreneurs

Utilities are heavily driven by outsourcing of products and services, but most times, their integration is limited by lack of strong Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and vendor management practices. The new private operators usually start dealing with several products and contractors, and already
scarce Management bandwidth gets occupied in monitoring and renegotiating contracts and performance. The key question here is – can organized vendors be developed with more end-to-end managed services for these new PPPs?

Recently, pManifold team spoke with Mr. Gagan Aggarwal, MD, Creative Entrepreneurs (CE). The company has 30+ years of experience in providing Turnkey EPC and O&M services for Power and Water utilities. The interview focuses upon 'What new business models need to emerge for such managed services that have performance-linked contracts?' The below shared are the author's personal views and not to be associated with any of his company's and other associations.

Raising meaningful GIS implementation in Indian Discoms and Franchisees

Mr. Sanjay Sahay, VP - India
Sales

GIS is very much talked about in the utility space. Every new franchisee that starts or an existing utility wants to first start by mapping the network and its customers to a GIS map. How effective is this and how effectively it can be done are both questions whose answers differ. However, in the experience of an Indian utility, a well executed strategy for GIS and its integration with existing IT applications can be successfully implemented.

Rahul Bagdia from pManifold team spoke to Mr. Sanjay Sahay, Vice President - India Sales, Infotech - Enterprises. The company has 20+ international experience of providing solutions in the arena of Smart Grid, GIS, Network Management, etc. The below shared are the author's personal views and not to be associated with any of their company's association.

Bottom-up innovation: From Micro Grid in Indian villages to Smart Grid for urban Discoms

Yashraj Khaitan, Co-founder
and CEO, Grampower

Bringing electricity to rural areas that never may see the grid is a great boon to both people's quality of life and the region's economy. Smart Grid Technology or Renewable Microgrid is the topic of this discussion to improve operational and business efficiency of Indian Power Utilities.

Grampower, a energy technology company is working on addressing the electrification challenges in India. 

pManifold recently spoke to Mr. Yashraj Khaitan, Co-founder and CEO of Grampower. The company sets up energy efficient Smart Microgrids in remote areas to provide on-demand, reliable electricity to telecom towers and rural households with an affordable prepaid purchase model. He has been instrumental in raising over USD1.7 million for the company, and leads product and business development and partnership building to scale the company's operations.The below shared are the author's personal views and not to be associated with any of his company's and other associations.

Avoiding mistakes with GIS implementation in Power Distribution Utilities

Noida Power Company Ltd (NPCL), a joint venture between the RP-Sajiv Goenka Group, a leading business house in India and Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, distributes power in Greater Noida, near Delhi in Uttar Pradesh. The Company started its operations in December 1993 under a 30-year license from U.P. Government and is among the leading companies to use GIS technology with vast experience.

pManifold team spoke to Mr. Rajiv Goyal, Head (Projects and Power Trading) and Mr. Vikas Gupta, Manager (GIS) to understand their experience in GIS implementation and the best practices adopted by NPCL. The below shared are the author's personal views and not to be associated with any of his company's and other associations.      

Non-Revenue Water Reduction: The challenge continues to persist

Non-Revenue Water (NRW) – technical as well as commercial losses – is still perceived as a technology problem. Though asset and network rehabilitation form a substantial remedy, the approach does not take in to account the softer aspect of engaging rightly with Utility Consumers as well as its own employees.

The NRW component, we believe, can be curbed substantially, if the utility engages with the other stakeholders – customers and employees - through education and empowerment. Customer and employee engagement also brings out the tacit knowledge from the field, which acts as a feedback mechanism for the Utility. The approach also includes conducting analysis of internal customer-facing business processes, and resolving the bottlenecks hampering service delivery standards.

The table given below lists some of the interesting engagements we have shared with our clients. the rationale behind it and the methodology we adopted:

Customer perceptions tracked and studied gives strategic action items for utility plan its customer outreach programs. Customer Sensitization and talent development for Utility staff goes on to change the culture from monopolistic commodity trading to customer service provider	· Customer Opinion Preference Satisfaction (COPS) Studies offers an insight into the customer preferences and probable causes of forced behaviours · Process Level Customer Satisfaction (PL-CSat) deployed rightly screens each of the customer satisfaction over each of the processes which act as customer touch points for utility · Feet-on-Street (FOS) teams – like meter readers, bill distributors, plumbers, etc. – go a long way in identifying the tacit knowledge about the local systems · Audits of customer facing processes – Collection Centres, Call Centres, Zonal Offices, etc. – provide the much missing customer perception of utility processes · Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) studies create a sense of revenue assurance for investors and creditors alike, thereby, create baseline for financial projections of private utilities
Key issues in poor billing efficiency and collection efficiency arise due to lack of right internal processes implementation	· Process Level Audits for Meter Reading, Data Transfer Quality Monitoring and Bill Distribution bring out missing links in the billing efficiency · Localization – eg. option of bilingual bill generation – builds the customer connect
Utility engaging with focus groups plays a vital role in customer engagement and education	· Ensuring right engagement media for consumer education and engagement · Creating right social media handles to take utility marketing to next levels

For a deeper dive-in, refer to our previous blog on Efficient Billing & Collection Processes as key to driving NRW reduction.

IUKAN 2014: Call For Topics and Speakers

We are pleased to announce the kick off for the Annual India Utility Knowledge and Networking Conference 2014 (Proposed Dates: 12-13^th February, 2014 | Venue: New Delhi). Integrating your supportive feedback and learning from last year, we plan to make this 2014 edition of IUKAN bigger and better.

We continue to focus on Power Distribution and Water Supply & Sanitation (WSS) in these 2 days conference, driving Operationalisation and reforms strengthening, bottom-up. We plan to introduce new features to increase interactions and engagement, one of them being launch of IUKAN Utility Best practices Awards.

We are happy to make the first ‘Call for Topics’ towards co-creating a strong agenda and content for this conference. Following broad thematic areas are being considered to address current challenges faced by the industry:

• Thriving in the local Politics: Discuss challenges and best practices of engaging with Urban Local bodies, Politics, Media and Law Enforcement in the distribution area.

• Customer Services as a Marketing Function: Discuss challenges and best practices of bringing customer centricity to processes and people of the utility and start looking upon customer services as a marketing function (channel, content, communications etc.) and not a cost-center.

• Engaging Ground staff as Wealth Managers for driving loss reduction initiatives: Discuss challenges and best practices in managing Metering, Billing and Collection, Auditing, Vigilance and theft control to ensure commercial loss reduction.

• Deploying Measurements, Analytics, BI and IT Systems for management and decision support: Discuss challenges and best practices of using legacy, customer, network and performance data more efficiently to improve decision making and operations.

• Acquiring, Partnering and Managing Talent& Skills: Discuss best practices and future trends in managing employees & vendors performance for improved performance driven culture and expedited loss reduction.

• Enhancing sustainability in Private-Participation business models: Share of real life Performance case studies of different PPP/Franchisee models, jointly by Dicoms and private Operators. Discuss how to create trust between Discom and private players to scale-up reforms.

• What really worked in shaping major reforms with International Utilities: Discuss challenges and best practices from International utilities in developing and developed markets.

• Faster Go-to-Market with innovations: Discuss how utility innovations could be expedited from pilot to full scale, and what supporting ecosystem (like R&D, Financing) is needed.

• Financing Utilities and Cities: Discuss best practices through real life case studies of convergence of various utilities to build strong urban reforms for cities and their financing institutionalization.

You are invited to send in suggestions for topics that you wish to learn about and speakers from whom you would like to hear and meet at the conference. If you are an operator or solution provider in the power or water distribution space and would like to share your success story at the conference, then you can also write to us to discuss possible inclusion of it in the agenda.

You can reach us through Sandeep.Waghmare@pManifold.com or Kunjan.Bagdia@pManifold.com to discuss your ideas further.

Posted by: Isha Gupta @ pManifold