1

Abstract--Indian utilities have been grappling with issues such

as astronomically high aggregated technical & commercial losses which result from inefficient metering, billing and pilferage of electricity and due to inefficient use of electricity in sectors such as agriculture. Improving the financial health of utilities requires urgent measures at the user-end (demand side) i.e. in the power distribution. The demand also needs to be managed efficiently to bridge the huge gap between demand and supply. Reducing demand and consumption can reduce the stress on the generation and T&D systems at a fractional cost compared to the investment required to augment capacity. This paper discusses one of the successful Demand Side Management measures that were implemented by the state utility of Maharashtra in India.

Index Terms--Community Participation, Demand Side Management, Efficient End-use, Load Shedding

I. INTRODUCTION

OR more than two years now, the state of Maharashtra is reeling under a sever power deficit. The state utility has

had to resort to planned load shedding to bridge the gap between supply and demand. Several parts of the state face 8 to 10 hours of load shedding. Addition in generating capacity required to meet the increasing demand requires significant investments and has a long lead-time. The shortfall is not likely to improve for the next 4 to 5 years and till then demand will continue to outstrip supply. The situation is expected to improve only by 2011-12 when new capacity addition programmes start delivering. In such a scenario, it is essential that the available power be used efficiently and judiciously. Opportunities available from energy efficiency measures need to be tapped. The overall efficiency improvements are possible by investing in technologies to improve conversion efficiency at the power generation stations and in reducing transmission and distribution and commercial losses. Another important aspect in improving efficiency is improving the efficiency of end-use devices and to initiate Demand Management measures.

Vijay L Sonavane is Executive Director (Corporate Planning) with the state

utility Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL, www.mahadiscom.in), Mumbai MH-400051 India (e-mail: vlsonavane@gmail.com)

Ranjeet Vaishnav is a member of IEEE and is with Tata Consultancy Services Limited (www.tcs.com), Mumbai MH-400093 India (e-mail: ranjeet.vaishnav@tcs.com).

II. DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT (DSM)

A. Definition

Demand Side Management involves co-operative action by the utility and consumer to modify the consumer load curve resulting in savings to the consumer, utility and society. This can meet the load shape objectives of the utility and can include energy efficiency, load shifting.

The concept of demand-side management1 was developed in response to the potential problems of global warming and the need for sustainable development, and the recognition that improved energy efficiency represents the most cost-effective option to reduce the impacts of these problems. Demand-side management refers to cooperative activities between the utility and its customers (sometimes with the assistance of third parties such as energy services companies and various trade allies) to implement options for increasing the efficiency of energy utilization, with resulting benefits to the customer, utility, and society as a whole.

B. Objectives

Demand Side Management programmes aim to achieve the following objectives:

o Promote efficient use of energy o Improve operating efficiency and flexibility of power

delivery systems o Improve quality and reliability of power o Improve customer service and maximize customer

welfare o Reduce the investment in capacity addition programmes

or at least delay the investment o Reduce power cuts and load shedding o Reduce the impact on environment (environmental

degradation) and conserve natural resources o Lower cost of delivered energy

III. DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

A basic problem faced by the state power utilities (state electricity boards, SEBs, and their unbundled successors) in India is their poor financial status. For power sector reforms to succeed, demand side management initiatives are a must. Though there is a limited experience with DSM in India,

1 Definition from ‘DSM Guidebook’ by International Institute for Energy

Conservation

DSM Initiatives – A Case Study from Maharashtra

Vijay L Sonavane and Ranjeet Vaishnav, Member, IEEE

F

©2008 IEEE.

2

demand management has an enormous potential which is yet to be tapped. Innovative concepts of managing demand are yet to be tried out in the various sectors. For a country where the agricultural load dominates consumption, such measures can deliver significant benefits.

Demand Side Management can be achieved in two ways2: (a) Energy Efficiency, which is nothing but reduction of kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy consumption and, (b) Demand Load Management, which is the reduction of kilowatts (kW) of demand for power or the displacement of demand to off-peak hours. The first category consists of programmes such as awareness generation, customer or vendor rebates for efficient end-use equipment, etc. The second category includes measures such as time-of-use (ToU) tariffs, interruptible tariffs, direct load control, etc. Specific measures depend on the objective that a utility intends to achieve: peak clipping, load shifting, strategic conservation or strategic load growth.

Several initiatives have been taken by various utilities in the country. Some of the major initiatives have been listed in the Table-1.

TABLE-1 DEMAND SIDE MEASURES TAKEN BY VARIOUS UTILITIES3

Sr. nr. Measures Utilities 1. Two Part Tariff / ToU HPERC, WBSEB, Torrent AECO,

AERC 2. Power Factor Correction

Capacitors NDPL, Ajmer VVNL, Torrent AEC, BEST Undertaking, MPECSL, APSPDCL, REL, PVVNL

3. Penalties for Harmonic Injection

HPERC

4. Solar Lighting UJVNL 5. HVDS NDPL, BRPL, BYPL, WBSEB,

APSPDCL. PVVNL 6. Electronic Meters Most utilities 7. Energy Audit NDPL, CESCO, TNEB, NOIDA

Power Company, CSEB et al 8. Energy Efficient End-use

Equipment JVVNL

9. Dedicated Agricultural Feeders

WBSEB

10. Energy Efficient Lighting Program

BESCOM

11. Replacement of GSL by CFL

Cochin Port Trust, AERC, CSEB, DHBVN, MSEDCL

12. Installation of Solar Water Heaters

Cochin Port Trust, AERC

13. Installation of Electronic Choke

Cochin Port Trust, CSEB

Realizing the importance of promoting energy efficient technologies, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has been set up by the Energy Conservation Act 2001. BEE has chalked up an action plan with ten major thrust areas – Industrial Energy Conservation, Demand Side Management, Standards and labeling, Energy Efficiency (EE) in Buildings, Energy Conservation Building Codes, Professional Certification and Accreditation, Manuals and Codes, EE Policy Research,

2 Reference ‘DSM Guidebook’ by International Institute for Energy

Conservation 3 Saurabh Kumar, “DSM Policy Initiatives in India”

School Education, Delivery Mechanisms for Energy Efficiency Services. One such initiative taken by the state utility of Maharashtra has been discussed in detail below.

IV. MAJOR DSM INITIATIVES IN MAHARASHTRA

Several initiatives have been taken by MSEDCL to introduce demand side measures to meet the shortage in supply. Some of the major ones are listed here:

o Akshya Prakash Yojana: This is a scheme under which a village (Goathan) can avoid load shedding in the evening by reducing the load voluntarily to 20% of the existing load. This scheme is discussed in detail in the next section.

o Voluntary Load Reduction Scheme in Small Cities: Under this scheme, during the evening peak, the load is reduced to 33% through self control measures by the citizens. When the load decreases to less than 33%, load shedding in the city is removed in the evening.

o Single Phase Supply in Villages (Goathans): Main suffering of the public due to load shedding is in the evening hours. In order that at least basic lighting is available in the households, single phase transformers are being fixed in village (Goathans).

o Municipal Water Pumping Scheme: encouraging efficient pump system operation during off peak hours to help reduce peak demand and energy demand.

o Time of Use (ToU) Tariff: differential tariff structure for peak and off-peak supply of energy to encourage industries to shift load to off-peak periods and flatten the peak load profile.

o Use of CFLs: Encouragement in the use of CFL for reducing energy consumption.

V. AKSHAY PRAKASH YOJANA

A. Introduction

The state utility of Maharashtra, MSEDCL4, introduced a scheme called Akshay Prakash Yojana (APY)5 in August 2004 which involved several villages participating in order to voluntarily regulate their use of electricity, particularly during peak hours. APY is a voluntary DSM measure which tries to restrict rural feeder loads to 20% of actual value by reducing pilferage, removing inefficient devices and better load management. The key objectives of this scheme are:

4 MSEDCL – Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited 5 MSEDCL website: http://www.mahadiscom.in/compliance/faq.shtm

3

o Transfer of load from peak to off-peak period by consumers

o Demand side measures like removal of illegal/inefficient heavy consumption devices, adopting energy saving lighting, use of capacitors etc.

o Pilferage reduction (removal of illegally connected hot plates/water heaters)

o Awareness amongst the villagers on energy conservation

B. Stakeholder Involvement

The major stakeholders in the scheme are consumers in the villages and staff of MSEDCL. The APY scheme is implemented only after the Gram Sabha passes a resolution to take part in APY. MSEDCL staff holds various meetings for briefing the consumer’s benefits in APY scheme. Thus both the stakeholders are 100% involved in the implementation of APY and further success of scheme. Villagers form an APY surveillance committee. The members of this committee keep a strict vigil on success of scheme. They see that no consumer is using 3 phase load during 1800 hours to 0500 hours, which is necessary for keeping the load on 11kV feeder to 20% level of peak load.

C. APY Process

APY is a voluntary initiative. The decision to adopt the APY scheme entirely depends on the initiative and awareness of the consumers staying in villages. The scheme achieves better penetration through awareness communications by the MSEDCL employees as well as visual impact of APY villages on non-APY villages (availability of supply for 21 hours as against 10-11 hours for non APY villages).

It may be noticed that there is no finance required for implementation of APY scheme, as it is purely voluntary DSM scheme benefiting both consumers and MSEDCL.

D. Achievement

APY is a classic example of Demand Side Management by Community Participation. Till date about 5,548 villages and 5 towns have been covered leading to 1,260MW of load relief. These villages are now free from planned load shedding of 14 hours. They now receive 21 hours of uninterrupted power supply.

The current energy deficit of Maharashtra is about 23.81% and the peak demand deficit is 29.07%. By adoption of this scheme, MSEDCL has contributed to reduction of the Maharashtra system demand by 1260MW in the system demand over 14700 MW and thereby improving the power situation in the state.

Fig.01. Load Profile of a Feeder before and after APY

E. Challenges

The ultimate goal of APY at present is to achieve a target of 25% villages (about 10,000 villages) in the state. However, this target could exceed with time and given suitable support, it may touch 40%. If majority of the villages adopt APY, there could be considerable reduction in commercial losses, better load management, reduction in transformer repair and maintenance cost and system stability resulting in improved commercial and operational performance of MSEDCL. APY, if adopted in a large scale can provide better quality of supply to villages and lead to optimum utilization of power for social benefits like education, cottage industry etc.

The biggest barrier that prevents mass scale adoption of APY is the attitude of persons staying in villages and a feeling of distrust against the utility. This can be changed by large scale awareness programmes. Technical constraints at present require that the scheme could be operated feeder wise (there could be many villages on a single feeder) only and not for individual villages.

F. Impact

The impact this project has had on the consumers is as follows:

o Enhanced quality of supply (better voltages due to limiting peak load)

o Elimination of load shedding (21 hours of uninterrupted supply and three hour 1500 hours to 1800 hours of load shedding)

o Reduction in transformer break-down and improvement in voltage (due to removal of illegal load)

o Reduction in consumer complaints (consumers becoming part of MSEDCL operation i.e. keeping 20% load during 1800 hours to 0500 hours).

o Optimum utilization of power for social benefits like education, cottage industry etc.

The impact of this project on MSEDCL as an organization is as follows:

o Reduction in commercial losses (due to voluntary removal of illegal hotplates and water heaters etc.)

o Better load management (peak load during 1800 hours to 0500 hours is restricted to 20% of full load on 11kV feeders due to non utilization of 3 phase loads during this period). The consumers can use 3 phase loads (Agricultural pumps and flour mills) during 0500 hours to 1500 hours as there is no load shedding during this period.

o Reduction in distribution transformer repairs & maintenance cost (as illegal load on transformer is voluntarily removed by villagers)

o System stability improved due to removal of illegal load. o Improved commercial and operational performance

4

Fig.02. Load Profile of a Division before and after APY

VI. CONCLUSION

Though the scheme is voluntary and not compulsory, in order to avoid 14 hours load shedding inclusive of evening period villagers see that the load remains within the limit value of 20% of peak load during 1800 to 0500 hours. They can use their single phase lighting and commercial loads during this period. The only technical constraint is that this scheme has to be operated feeder wise and the first village on the feeder has to adopt APY and then sequentially other villages can take benefit of APY. As such the success of APY depends on the first village on the feeder adopting the APY scheme.

The villages were not pre-identified. The adoption of APY entirely depends on the initiative and awareness of the persons staying in villages. The scheme achieves better penetration through awareness communications by the utility as well as visual impact of APY villages on non-APY villages. This scheme can be adopted by various villages facing load shedding in other states, provided the consumers remove illegal loads and do not use 3 phase loads (agricultural pumps/flour mills etc.) during evening peak period and keep the drawl during evening to 20% of normal peak load (i.e. use electricity for lighting purpose only). It may be concluded that APY is a purely voluntary Demand Side Management scheme which requires no finances but a will to cut down 3 phase loads during evening peak period. This is a win-win situation for consumers and utility. The factors/enablers are:

o Awareness levels in villages o Percentage of agricultural load (needed for getting 3

phase load relief during 1800 - 0500 hrs) o Level of pilferage o Type of devices used (Energy Saving) Awareness levels in villages are the most important factor

that enables adoption of APY by villages. In addition, villages having low pilferage, lesser agricultural load and efficient devices will not be able to reduce their load to 20% of the total load. Further communicating to the villagers that electricity is a scarce commodity and stressing on the need for conservation is crucial for the success of the scheme.

VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to thank the management of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited

(MSEDCL) for their support in writing this paper.

VIII. REFERENCES

Technical Reports: [1] DSM Guidebook by International Institute for Energy Conservation

(IIEC). [2] Frequently Asked Questions on MSEDCL website:

http://www.mahadiscom.in/compliance/faq.shtm

Papers Presented at Conferences (Unpublished): [3] Saurabh Kumar, “DSM Policy Initiatives in India,” presented at DSM -

Most Desirable Policy Option for the Future Workshop, Seoul, Korea April 2007

IX. BIOGRAPHIES

Vijay L Sonavane has a B.E. in Electrical Engineering (1973) and a M.E. in Electrical Engineering (1975). He joined MSEB in 1976 as Assistant Engineer and has worked in Transmission Planning (Load Dispatch Center), System Study Cell, Dist. Wing, Comm. Wing, MIS group, Reforms Cell, Tariff & Regulatory Cell in various capacities. He is currently working as and Executive Director (Dist. Corporate Planning) with MSEDCL – Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited.

Ranjeet Vaishnav has a B.E. in Electrical Engineering (1994) from BVM Engineering College, Sardar Patel University (Gujarat). He has 13 years of experience in the field of Control & Automation systems for Electric Utilities as well as for Plant Electrical Networks in the Oil & Gas industries. He has worked in various roles in Design & Engineering, Installation & Commissioning,

Project Management and Technical Presales in the business of Automation & IT Systems for Electric Utilities. He is working with Tata Consultancy Services Limited on power systems related initiatives. Ranjeet is a member of IEEE and of The IET, UK.