Adani Transmission has won smart metering orders valued at around Rs.37.2 billion (Rs.3,720 crore) in the first quarter of FY24.
According to a provisional performance update for Q1 (April to June) of FY24, filed on stock exchanges recently, Adani Transmission Ltd has won three smart metering orders entailing the rollout of about 2.8 million smart meters.
All these orders were won in Andhra Pradesh and were awarded under the DBFOT (design, build, finance, operate and transfer) model. Each order will have a contractual period of 10 years (including O&M) and has been placed under the “Capex + O&M” model, which is also referred to as the TOTEX model.
The contracts have been placed by various state government discoms in Andhra Pradesh (see table) and will be implemented by Adani Transmission Step Seven Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Transmission Ltd.
With these orders, Adani Transmission Ltd now has a smart metering order mandate valued at Rs.5,860 crore, involving the rollout of around 4.7 million smart meters – spread over Mumbai, Assam and Andhra Pradesh. All the contracts so far have terms similar to those in Andhra Pradesh – DBFOT, Capex + O&M, and 10-year contractual period.
ATL made its foray in the smart metering space in October 2022 with power utility BEST placing an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) mandate on ATL for 1.1 smart meters in the Mumbai island city. This project will be implemented by BEST Smart Metering Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ATL. This was followed by a mandate in Assam in February 2023.
It is reliably learnt that all the smart metering orders discussed here, with the exception of Mumbai, have been awarded under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme.
Adani Transmission had also won a tender to install around 7.5 million smart meters by Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (MVVNL). However, this tender, worth around Rs.5,400 crore, was cancelled by MVVNL in February 2023, as widely reported in the media.
Transmission business
In the transmission business, ATL added 550 ckm to its operational network taking the total transmission network to 19,778 ckm, as of June 30, 2023. Similarly, 6,000 MVA of transformation capacity was added taking the cumulative figure to 46,001 MVA.
As of June 30, 2023, ATL had seven transmission projects, under active construction, together envisaging nearly 3,500 ckm of transmission network. Six of these (two intrastate and four interstate) were won under the TBCB route, while one (intrastate) was on regulated tariff mechanism (RTM) basis.
Distribution business
ATL’s power distribution business is housed under Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML) that serves over 3 million customers in Mumbai. In Q1 of FY24, AEML recorded unusually low distribution losses, at just 4.85 per cent, as against 6.95 per cent in Q1 of FY23. The consumer base rose to 3.13 million as of June 30, 2023, from 3.08 million on the same date in 2022. AEML sold 2754 million kwh of electricity in Q1 of FY24, up 7.6 per cent from the 2560 million kwh sold in Q1 of FY23.
Also read: Adani Transmission Completes Four TBCB Projects In FY23
Key to abbreviations: BEST = Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply & Transport Undertaking; APDCL = Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd; APEPDCL = Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Ltd; APCPDCL = Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company Ltd; APSPDCL = Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Ltd)