According to the “Integrated Rating for State Power Distribution Utilities” conducted by the Ministry of Power, the four Gujarat state power distribution utilities (DISCOMs) have emerged as top performers for the fifth year in a row. Tripura has replaced Meghalaya at the bottom of rating table.

Out of the 41 DISCOMs rated; five received a rating of A+ (up from three), six were rated A (no change), eight utilities were rated B+ (down from 10), 10 received a rating of B (up from eight), five utilities received C+ rating (down from eight) and seven DISCOMs were rated C (up from five).

Of the five DISCOMs that received A+ rating, four are from Gujarat and one is from Uttarakhand. The bottom rung is dominated by Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur, and Jharkhand DISCOMs.

The Ministry of Power formulated an Integrated Rating Methodology in July 2012 for evaluating performance of State Power Distribution utilities on a range of operational, financial, regulatory and reform parameters. The rating covers 41 state distribution utilities spread across 22 states. The Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency (ICRA) and Credit Analysis and Research (CARE) are the designated credit rating agencies.

The evaluation parameters cover current levels of performance as well as relative improvement from year to year. The operational and reform parameters include AT&C losses, efficiency of power purchase cost, customer interface and carry weightage of 47 percent. The financial parameters include cost coverage ratio, payables, receivables, timely submission of audited accounts carrying weightage of 33 percent. External parameters relating to regulatory environment, State Government subsidy support, carry assigned weightage of 20 percent.

(More to follow… http://bit.ly/mercomutil)