The 20th Annual Conference on Power Distribution in India concluded on a strong note. Thank you to all the speakers, participants, and partners who made it a success.
Key takeaways from the conference sessions:
-Financial performance: Discom finances remain weak, with gross debt above Rs 7.5 trillion due to capex, working capital pressures and operational losses. Book losses have narrowed, supported by lower AT&C losses, tariff hikes and higher subsidies.
-RDSS priorities: Over the next 6–12 months, RDSS priorities include mid-term evaluation, strengthening cybersecurity and interoperability for smart metering, speeding up fund disbursal and leveraging synergies with the India Energy Stack.
-Technology adoption: Utilities are accelerating technology adoption through large-scale smart meter rollouts, ADMS, GIS mapping, and adoption of digital twins, grid sensors, drones, IoT and AI/ML tools to improve network reliability and efficiency.
-Renewable integration: Renewables are reshaping operations, with storage helping manage variability, stabilising the grid and shifting surplus energy to peak hours. Discoms are enabling rooftop solar, net metering, demand response and EV charging infrastructure.
-Customer focus: Utilities are increasing their customer focus, shifting towards faster issue resolution, proactive engagement and data-driven support for consumers.
• Vikas Gaba, KPMG India
• Saurav S., Power Finance Corporation Ltd.
• Alok Kumar, All India Discoms Association (AIDA)
• Minhaj Alam, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB)
• Raghav Kanoria, India Power
• Ayush Kumar, Sai Computers Ltd.
• P. R. Kumar, Noida Power Company Ltd.
• Abhishek Ranjan, BSES Rajdhani Power
• Tarun Popli, Tata Power Southern Odisha Discom
• Prudhvitej Immadi, APEPDCL
• Avanish Kumar Gupta, Rajdhani Power Limited
• Meenakshi Arora, Tata Power-DDL
• Rajesh Dangi, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission
• Sushanta Ray Mohapatra, Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission
• Dr. Umakanta Panda, Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission
• Sabyasachi Majumdar, CareEdge Group
• Santanu Sen, CESC Limited
• Gaurav Maheshwari, Tata Power
• Prateek Singhal, Sai Computers Ltd.
• Sunil Sharma, BSES Yamuna Power Limited
• Yogesh Kumar, MVVNL
• S. P. Chauhan, B. C. Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Ltd.
• Babu Narayanan, Akanksha Power and Infrastructure
• Viktor Tsurkan, Smart Metering Segment
• Puneet Chitkara, IEX
• Urvil Shah, Waaree Energies
• Kevin Benny, MCX
• Atul Krishnan, NPCI Bharat Bill Pay
• Dr. Pradeep N., Esri India
Organised by: Power Line Magazine and Smart Utilities Magazine
Lead Sponsor: Sai Computers Limited
GIS Partner: Esri India
Exchange Partner: Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd.
Co-Sponsors: Akanksha Power and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited (Bharat Connect), and Waaree Smart Meters
Supporting Partners: Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), India Power, Resurgent India Limited, and REC Limited