Only four distribution companies (DISCOMs) out of 62 scored an A+ rating in an assessment of consumer service performance conducted by the Ministry of Power and REC Limited for the financial year 2022-23.

The third edition of the Consumer Service Rating of Distribution Companies assessed ten private and 52 state-owned DISCOMs serving over 320 million customers.

The four DISCOMs that scored A+ were BSES Rajdhani Power, BSES Yamuna Power, Tata Power Delhi Distribution, and Noida Power Company.

All four DISCOMs with the highest rating are private and serve a largely urban demographic, showcasing the divide in customer satisfaction between private and public DISCOMs.

Nine out of ten private DISCOMs had hours of supply, a key industry metric that measures the hours of supplied power in a day, higher than the national average.

The worst performers were Arunachal Power Department, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited, Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited with grade C, and  Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited with grade D.

Overall, however, DISCOMs secured better grades than last year, showcasing an improvement in performance on a national level. The number of DISCOMs with A+, A, and B+ ratings increased to 35, up from 22 last year. The number of DISCOMs with C and D grades reduced to four from eight last year.

The average grade for all DISCOMs was B+.

At least eight DISCOMs were not included in the rating due to non-participation or insufficient data.

The DISCOMs were evaluated on four criteria specifying the minimum standards and expectations that consumers have, such as reliability, timely and accurate metering and billing, connection and other services, and swift grievance redressal.

In addition to the four criteria, 23 sub-parameters were used to evaluate the DISCOMs and assign them a rating in seven grades: A+, A, B+, B, C+, C and D. The sub-parameters evaluated hours of supply provided, interruptions to power, transformer failure, online applications processed, replacement times, billing frequency and average call waiting time, among others.

Last year in April, the Union government’s annual appraisal of DISCOMs’ financial and operational performance saw 21 entities improve their ratings over the previous year.

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