GIS mapping for TANGEDCO

Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) is collecting details of each electricity service connection in the city to develop Geographic Information System (GIS)-based consumer indexing.

According to an official of the corporation, data collection has been carried out by Navayuga Info Tech. The company will collect data such as phone numbers, electricity load, street name, etc., and submit GIS-networked data to the corporation. The corporation already has consumption related details of each service connection. The company is also gathering details of the number and location of electricity poles and transformers here.

In future, the database will be linked to the fuse-off call office too. It will help improve service to the electricity consumers. In the long term, this will help the officials have the details of the entire electricity network of the city on the computer.

Thus, when a consumer submits application for a new service connection, the official will have information such as the nearest available electric pole in the area and the additional infrastructure required. Or, if a consumer calls up the electricity office to prefer a complaint, the service connection details will be readily available.

The exercise is being carried out under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) of the Union Ministry of Power, for which Coimbatore is one of the cities selected. The city has 4.5 lakh service connections under different segments such as residential, industrial and commercial. Details will be collected from nearly 6.5 lakh consumers in and around the city. The data collection work started three months ago and will go on for another six months.

The corporation has issued identity cards to the Navayuga personnel.

The official said electricity consumers should provide the required details after ensuring that the data collector had the identity card.

The R-APDRP, taken up at a cost of Rs. 305 crore here, would focus on automation and improvement of the distribution lines.

Infrastructure such as distribution lines would also be improved. Measures would be taken to reduce line loss from the current 18 per cent.

Additional transformers would be erected, overhead electricity cables would go underground for 110 km in the city, and a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system would be installed..