VISAKHAPATNAM: Discoms in the state are among the top five performers of the country, according to a survey conducted by Smart Power India (SPI) in association with NITI Aayog and the Rockefeller Foundation, on ‘electricity access and benchmarking of distribution utilities’. The study was conducted across 10 states with a sample size of over 25,000 respondents consisting of different consumer categories such as households, agriculture, commercial enterprises, and institutions in rural and urban areas.
As part of the study, around 2,000 samples were collected from the state. Two power distribution utilities—APEPDCL and APSPDCL—have higher access index scores than the average of the surveyed utilities (27) in all four customer categories. Significant differences were observed in the household and agricultural categories. APSPDCL was among the top five performers across all 25 surveyed distribution utilities. In Andhra Pradesh, the availability rate for APSPDCL is 90 per cent and 44 per cent for APEPDCL.
The survey also captured insights from both the demand side (electricity customer) and the supply side (distribution utilities). The access study comes almost two years after India achieved 100 per cent h o u s e h o l d electrification. The study primarily evaluates the status of electricity access in different states and distribution utilities’ capacity to provide electricity access. Andhra Pradesh had a lower percentage of ‘Tier 0’ customers than the survey average.