Glorious Journey: TPNODL completes 2 years of successful operations

By Sudam Patra

Balasore, April 2:: TP Northern Odisha Distribution Ltd (TPNODL), the joint venture between Tata Power and Government of Odisha completed its 2 years of successful operations in the state.

The occasion was celebrated at Auditorium, NOCCI Business Park, Balasore and was graced by esteemed presence of Chief Guest IAS retired, Independent Director TPNODL K.N Srivastava, Special guest, Ashok Tripathy, Independent Director TPNODL and Guest of honour Superintendent of Police, Balasore, IPS Sagarika Nath, Collector and District Magistrate Balasore, IAS Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde. Other dignitaries present in the occasion were Bhaskar Sarkar – CEO, TPNODL, Sriballav Singh – Chief, HR Administration, Dushyant Kumar Tyagi – Chief of Commerce, Pradip Sil – Chief of Contract, Ravindra Gawde Chief of Project, Nilesh Potphode – Chief Operations Services, Chittaranjan Pradhan PRO, TPNODL and other officials.

TPNODL currently serves a populace of 97 lakhs with a registered customer base of over 20 lakhs in a vast distribution area covering 27920 sq. km. in northern Odisha. In the past two years, the company has taken numerous initiatives focusing on customer satisfaction, operational excellence through digital transformation, safety and CSR.

Technology initiatives focusing on uninterrupted power

 Some major initiatives by taken by TPNDOL towards ensuring an uninterrupted power supply include:

TPNODL’s centralized Power System Control Center (PSCC) provides a real time update of entire network for checking any power outages. 91 Primary substations have been integrated with SCADA which allows the company to ensure smooth and remote and operation management

Launched 16 satellite Power System Control Center (PSCC) at each division

Deployed the latest version of mobile Underground Power Cable Fault Locator system for cable testing, fault location, cable route tracing and identification activities of underground network for all critical & inaccessible underground cable sections

 Introduced trolley mounted Distribution Transformer for reducing the downtime during Distribution Transformer failure & uninterrupted supply for the consumers during longer outages for maintenance of project work

TPNODL team has started conducting Ultrasound Detection to identify abnormalities in the network for preventing a potential power failure and taking corrective actions in advance

Drone driven feeder maintenance has been implemented to capture vulnerable locations in feeders through aerial survey and use of thermal sensing camera to capture the hotspot in the network for taking corrective actions. The company has completed aerial Survey / thermography of 36 11kV Feeders and covered approx. 1,700 kms.

 TPNODL team uses 3 tower wagon for effective tree trimming and maintenance activities on height in a safe manner

Inaugurated Meter Testing Lab at par with international standards at Balasore for testing Energy Meters

Safety first for all stakeholders

TPNODL has strictly implemented the policy of safety first for all stakeholders. Some of major initiatives include:

• Mandatory safety training of all its employees and behavioural based safety training of more than 3,300 employees
• The Company has conducted safety audit for all its 159 sections
• Established safety practice yards for hands-on training for all 16 Divisions. Additionally, Safety Porta Cabin has also been set up for classroom training session of all the linesman and BA employees
• The Company has provided ingeniously designed modern safety helmet and safety harness which is connected with advanced communicative snap hooks and interlinked through a wireless communication entirely powered through solar power for workmen
• A dedicated Suraksha portal for reporting and monitoring of unsafe observations
• A dedicated app for ensuring safety compliances of contract based employees – BAPASS
• More than 850 distribution substations have been fenced to ensure general public and animal safety
• Deployed LED display vans, organised safety marches and ensured public address systems for public reporting of safety issues
• The company had received an award for the best safety process and innovative approach in safety at safety conclave held in Mumbai in February this year

Focused approach towards operational excellence and customer satisfaction

With a continued approach towards operational excellence, TPNODL has taken many initiatives in the past one to year to ensure a robust infrastructure. Steps such as priority feeder maintenance, extensive tree trimming on 11KV feeders with the aim to label each feeder ad certified “Tree Free, onsite overhauling of 75 power transformers, installation of two 11KV voltage regulators have led to a reliable power supply in the areas.

Another major step taken by the company towards reliability was the commissioning of the newly constructed two interposing PC+6 towers on both sides of the Subarnarekha river under “Jaleswar Grid to Rajghat PSS 33 kV line”. This will facilitate a reliable power transmission to two 33/11 kV Power substations i.e. Rajghat and Gao Amarda. More than 15,000 consumer who were suffering each year due to a flood like situation with the increased water level of Subarnarekha river, will now ensure a reliable power supply in Basta.

Mr. Bhaskar Sarkar, Chief Executive Officer, TP Northern Odisha Distribution Limited, added, “We commence our third year of service with an aspiration of zero fatality, proactive consumer care, cent percent digital payments and inverter and stabilizer free Northern Odisha. Our teams are putting their utmost efforts towards reliability and customer centricity. We are grateful to the people and Government of Odisha for their continued support and faith in us.”

Another focus area for the company was absolute customer satisfaction. In the past two years the company has launched and introduced various customer touchpoints such as toll free no. Customer Care Centers across all 16 divisions, Anubhav Kendras etc. for resolving all grievances of urban and rural customers. Various payment avenues have been implemented along with brand partnerships for ease of customers to pay their bills. Incentive programs were launched for clearance of long pending dues of customers. A total of 50 Anubhav Kendras, one in each sub-division at the gram panchayat level, have been established by TPNODL to ensure that consumers from rural areas need not travel several miles to the section offices for resolving the issues related to payment/revision of bills, metering or any other electricity related issue.

The past two years of TPNODL have led to bagging of several awards such as CII Award – 35th State Level Convention on Quality Circle, Gold Award for “Excellence in Change Management” at the Economic Times Human Capital Awards Forum, Focused CEO of the year award at the Economic Times Human Capital Awards Forum and many more. On the CSR front as well, TPNDOL has taken significant measures such as inauguration of state-of-the-art Vocational training centers at Balasore, organizing more than 150 medical health camps in remote and tribal areas. TPNODL has a commitment towards transformation of electricity supply condition in Odisha.