Over 3.5 lakh crore allocated for feeder separation and other schemes in Distribution sector
The distribution sector has been allocated with over 3.5 lakh crore funding, feeder separation on the priority, among other schemes…
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently announced a fund for the power distribution sector worth INR 3, 05,984 crore that will be spread over a period of 5 years, in the Union Budget 2021.
The fund will assist DISCOM to build infrastructure that includes pre-paid smart metering and feeder separation along with upgrades to other systems. The feeder separation could play an important role in the strengthening of the weakest link in the power value chain.
Feeder Separation Scheme
Under the feeder separation scheme – different feeders are erected for different types of consumers, especially for agriculture, or high revenue billing consumers.
For DISCOMs this feeder separation scheme is not new. Already some states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab have implemented this scheme for agricultural connections. However, its implementation is still constrained.
As we know that the DISCOM’s premium consumers are these high billing consumers as they contribute substantially in terms of revenue. Thus, it becomes necessary that they must be supplied with dedicated feeders that will have a positive effect on power quality. Also, feeder separation will help reduce supply downtime for these high billing consumers.
In a supply situation where a feeder is catering to a mix of high billing and low billing consumers, even in case of a fault occurs due to low billing consumers, the entire consumer mix is affected. This bleak situation can be avoided through feeder separation.
On the other hand, it also helps in improving the load pattern for agriculture loads. Thus, providing six to eight hours of supply to agriculture through separate feeders during non-peak hours improves the load curve and also avoids the high-rated power purchase burdens for DISCOMs during peak time.
A Win-Win Situation
Thus the adoption of the feeder separation system paves the way for optimum load management, quality & reliable power supply, while the reduction in downtime, especially for the high paying consumers.
Since this feeder separation scheme can create a win-win situation for the concerned stakeholders involved in the power sector, the DISCOMS should keep it as their top priority.
