Tata Power Firms Up Rs 5,000-Cr Investment In Odisha To Fix Frequent Power Cuts

After being pulled up by Odisha Assembly Speaker Suryanarayan Patra for frequent power cuts, the Tata Power has got into the act to ensure uninterrupted and quality power supply through its four distribution companies in the state. The company has firmed up ambitious investment plans. According to Sanjay Banga, President (T&D), Tata Power, the company will spend Rs 1,200-1,500 crore for each Discom in the next five years (around Rs 5,000 crore for four discoms). The capex for 2021-22 has already been finalized and submitted to the OERC. Most of the Capex budget will go for reliability improvement, loss reduction and technology upgradation. In the coming winter of 2021, TPC will go in for planned outages – a new initiative to work upon preventive maintenance. Banga says from March 2022 onwards, TPC customers in Odisha will experience better power supply connection with fewer trippings as Tata Power will spend Rs 300 crore towards preventive maintenance to address summer season reliability. “Odisha power reliability will be as good as Mumbai and Delhi sometime in 2023,” Banga added. It is learnt that the power networks, which have structural weakness as experienced in Odisha due to redundancy of single-source supply, will be changed to multiple-source power supply assurance. This will ensure reliable power. Tata Power has 51% stake in the Odisha entity with management control and the state-owned GRIDCO has 49% equity stake.