FRAMES model for financially sustainable DISCOMs

Key Messages

CSTEP has developed a framework for feeder-wise revenue analysis and monitoring of energy sales (FRAMES) at the 11 kV-feeder level.

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Because employees at the operational level focus mainly on the maintenance of power supply rather than revenue realisation, DISCOMs are unable to effectively relate the input energy with the revenue realised from its sale at the field level. Therefore, there is a need to make employees at the field level accountable and responsible for revenue realisation.

FRAMES enables the feeder manager to identify the reasons for any revenue leakage – whether it is due to ineffective billing and collection in the feeder or due to technical issues in the distribution network. Once the feeder manager is aware of the reasons for the leakage, they can take appropriate measures to reduce/eliminate it.

The implementation of FRAMES would lead to the inculcation of financial discipline in feeder managers owing to the incentive/penalty mechanism attached to it. Feeder managers can be incentivised or penalised for any reduction or increase, respectively, in losses in their feeder network. In addition, FRAMES can act as a knowledge-sharing platform wherein a better performing feeder can share its loss-reducing and revenue-earning best practices with other feeders.