The 51:49 joint venture with PowerGrid Corporation of India for the 1,200 km Tala Transmission Project: Powerlinks Transmission Limited (Powerlinks) is India's first transmission project to be executed as a Public-Private-Partnership. Powerlinks transmit power from the Bhutan based Tala Hydroelectric Project (in Nilgiri, West Bengal), through the Eastern/North-Eastern Region of India to Mandola in Uttar Pradesh (near New Delhi) a total distance of 1,200 km. Ten States (West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Delhi) benefit from this project, which transfers about 3000 MW of regional power. Maintaining an average availability of 99.7%, the project is an important link in the national power grid and is the first inter-state transmission project that has been implemented through the Public-Private-Partnership route. Powerlinks has also balanced the ratio between thermal power and hydel power in the eastern region of India.

Tata Power's transmission operations in Mumbai License Area stretch from Colaba in South Mumbai to Bassein Creek in North Mumbai and to Vikhroli in North-East Mumbai (bypassing Bhandup and Mulund).

DISTRIBUTION

Mumbai Distribution

Customer Base

Tata Power has a customer base of over 1.5 Lakh direct customers in Mumbai and on, average about 12,000 million units (MU) are sold in a year. Some of our bulk customers include BEST, Railways, Port Trust, BARC, Refineries and other important installations in Mumbai. As in all parts of the business, improvement in operational efficiency is a key focus area. Tata Power has taken a number of initiatives to improve the quality and reliability of its power supply. The Company is also expanding its customer base to embrace medium-sized industries and large commercial and residential complexes in Mumbai.

Ensuring Uninterrupted Power Supply

At the core of reliable power supply to the city is the unique ‘Islanding System' pioneered by Tata Power, due to which the city of Mumbai has the advantage of assured uninterrupted reliable supply of power. In case of a grid failure, the Islanding System ensures uninterrupted power supply within the city limits. In case of a breakdown in the Western Regional Power Grid, Tata Power's system is automatically isolated from the rest of the grid. It ensures that our generating units continue to function. All essential services like railways, hospitals, water supply systems are assured continuity of power supply.

Delhi Distribution

The Company’s partnership for distribution with the State Government of Delhi for its North Delhi customers, the North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL), is the only success story of privatisation in India. This company serves over 1 million customers (from a population of 4.5 million) spread over in an area of 510 sq. kms and has a peak load of 1050 MW. Since its formation in 2002, the company has launched a series of technological improvements for upgrading reliability and other customer services. Measures like energy audits, replacement of old meters with theft-proof electronic meters, automated meter reading, aggressive enforcement and public awareness drives have reduced the current ATC loss percentage to well below the target loss level percentage that has been committed to the regulatory authorities.

To create greater operational efficiencies, better load management and improvement in consumer services, NDPL has invested over Rs.1,350 crore in capital expenditure during the past five years. NDPL is automating its grids, mapping the network (for quicker fault location and isolation) and automating the outage management system on the Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) platform. In the retail power distribution business, innovative customer service measures are critical to success. In a measure adopted for the first time in India by a distribution company, NDPL ensures that its representative visits a new customer's premises and completes all formalities required for providing a new connection, without the customer having to visit NDPL's office.