Incorporating Innovation Into LV Distribution Network-The Cesc Pathway

CESC Limited is an integrated distribution utility operating in the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah, over a licensed are of 567 sq. km and having a customer base of nearly 3 million. Simply put, it is our cable and network equipment that bring power to the home of Kolkatans every day.

In our continuous endeavour to do our work efficiently, bring in improvement of our performance and to offer our customers quality uninterrupted power at an affordable price, introducing innovation in distribution is one of our key focus areas.

Innovations have many different definitions and interpretations, but we in CESC view innovation as introducing something novel in to our business processes or distribution Network so that we can provide Improved Services to our esteemed Customers in terms of quality, cost and speed. We believe that Innovation does not always have to be path breaking and we have achieved many considerable improvements in distribution as a result of a sequence of small step by step improvements.

At the heart of our approach to innovation is our commitment to continuous improvement of our Product & Services. This commitment to innovate and improve covers the entirety of CESC's Distribution services, including Customer Relationship Processes, Connection Management, Asset Management, Network Automation, Safety and Sustainability, Remote Work Force Monitoring and Back office functions.

Over the period of 2009–2013, CESC has made significant improvement in its quality of supply and performance which was mainly due to focused attention and investment in our HV network resulting in improved performance and minimisation of failures coupled with introduction of Remote Control of HV network feeders. However, performance of LV network of CESC continued to be an issue. With the above contextual factors CESC has initiated several projects to investigate and implement innovative approaches for performance improvement in managing LV network.

The paper delineates in details successful developments of new technologies by CESC in LV distribution relating to Compact LV Distribution Cabinets, LV jointing techniques, LV compact substation, LV remote changeover, and LV network visibility.

In addition to this, the innovative process changes relates to trouble call management and new connection processing which also forms part of CESC's overall innovation portfolio.

We expect that from the deployment of innovative techniques and processes, we would realise the benefits of improved customer service, improved quality of supply, improved network visibility, increased operational safety and better network management.

While CESC has made a conscious decision to be a leader in the field of innovation in distribution amongst all the distribution utilities in India, we believe that organisational environment conducive to innovation should essentially incorporate the freedom to fail. This position is also key to our vision to make CESC a great place to work for young engineers by fostering the spirit of relentless quest for improvement in the organisation.