CAPACITY BUILDING ON
ELECTRICITY REFORMS IN
BANGLADESH, INDIA AND NEPAL(RESA)
Mid-Term Evaluation Meeting
1 & 2 April 2009, Jaipur
CUTS- Calcutta Resource Centre
PART I
Project Implementation in West Bengal
2
1. Launch meeting and Training of
nodal persons/project staff
The Launch Meeting was organised in Kolkata.
This helped the West Bengal partner to
generate greater interest about the project in
the local media, local consumer groups and
impress upon the Power Department and the
West Bengal Regulatory Commission about the
importance of this project.
3
2. Local Inception Workshop
o
Before organizing this workshop, the RG
Group was formed and the 10 select district
level partners were identified
o
The RG members; the local partners; the
media;
the
local
CSOs
and
general
consumers were invited to this workshop.
o
This workshop was a great success and was
reported in three leading news paper.
o
The objective was to brief the invitees about
the scope and contours of the project
activities and objective.
4
3. Field Research and Baseline Survey

The survey was successfully done with the
help of the 10 local partners covering 700
respondents from different categories of
consumer groups across the state.

The draft baseline paper was prepared
capturing the findings of the survey .

The draft paper was circulated among the
RG group for their comments.
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4. Reference Group Meeting-I


The comments received from the RG groups
were collated, discussed in detail to arrive at a
consensus on the points to be considered and
those to be rejected.
The second objective of this meeting was to
finalise the components and the structure of
the TTM that could be used not just for this
project but also for future purposes.
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Major Outcome of RG-1




Prititosh Ray, Senior Member of the West Bengal
Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC), and K L
Biswas, Secretary, WBERC, actively participated in the
Reference Group (RG) Meeting for the first time.
The support of the WBERC was important for
successful implementation of the project in West
Bengal.
A team of three experts---representative of the
WBERC, Utility service provider and an academician--was formed to guide the CUTS-CRC team in
finalisation of the territorial training manual (TTM).
The said experts also helped in identifying resource
persons during the territorial trainings.
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5.Territorial Training


This was conducted in two phases to train the
select trainers from the 10 local partners.
The first phase was to orient them to basic and
simple issues related to consumers of
electricity.
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First phase covered the following topics:

General Introduction to Electricity Sector
Reforms and Regulation

Quality of Service: A general Overview

Complaint Redressal Mechanism

Procedure for Getting New Connection –
Permanent and Temporary Connection

Quality of service: Technical Issues

Understanding Electricity Consumption & Bill

Reduction of power theft: Role of consumers
9
The second phase focused on the
more complex issues.
The agenda covered:
o
o
o
o
o
o
Regulatory Decision-making Process
Tariff Determination Process
Energy Conservation: Role of Consumers
Energy Efficiency and Electrical Equipment
Rating
Tariff Regulation: Key issues
Competition Issues in Electricity Supply
Industry
10
6. Grassroots Interface Meetings (GIM) -Phase I
o Most of the GIMs generated
enthusiastic
response from local media. The meetings were
telecasted in the local T.V. channels which
helped in greater outreach.
o In all, 24 Grassroots meetings were organised
in 10 districts of West Bengal .
o All the districts organised one meeting each in
the district headquarter and at least one more
at the block level.
o Some of the partners organized more than two
GIMs in their districts.
11
o
The sessions were conducted by CUTS’
representative, the representatives from
the local utility and also by the local
partner.
o
The three principal themes focused were:
o
o
o
o
Electricity Reform Process and Role of
Consumers
Complaint Redressal Mechanism
Energy Conservation and Reduction of
Power Theft: Role of Consumers
A synthesis report has been prepared
where the main systemic problems have
been collated.
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Outputs of the Project

Territorial Base Paper

Training Manual

Handouts


Calendar with key messages for
consumers
Synthesis Report
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PART-II
SLOT ANALYSIS
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Strengths
The project has succeeded in generating
keen interest and enthusiasm among:
o Consumers---both rural and urban;
o The Department of Power and Non- Conventional
Energy Sources (NES), Government of West Bengal;
o The West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission
(of course after initial reservations);
o The Utilities;
o The Media (print as well as electronic);
o Academia.
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



Political environment has been supportive
towards the implementation of project and
Involvement of WBERC
Active involvement of the RG members: Sense
of ownership and commitment
Team members having rich experience on
working at grassroots level
Involvement of local partners---strong
reliable networks at the grassroots level

Involvement and participation of media

Active support from CUTS head office
and
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Ways in which this project has further
enhanced CUTS-Calcutta Resource Center's
strength


The design and structure of this project has helped
to pinpoint and identify the systemic and specific
problems of the selected districts, of the different
communities / consumer groups, and of the
system as a whole.
Enhanced our and our local partners’ capacity and
conviction to take this initiative forward in a surer
and more effective manner to build capacity of
consumers so that they can participate effectively
in the Reform Process.
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


It has created for CUTS-CRC a favourable position
and relation with policy makers to enable CUTS to
advocate and recommend policy change.
Cuts has earned great credibility and faith of
Department of Power and NES and the Regulatory
Commission in West Bengal.
Already one such recommendation put forward has
been considered and corrective measures are
being taken.
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Limitations



Project geographical coverage was limited to 10
districts only.
A two-year time period was felt to be insufficient
to meet the consumer demand and eagerness for
training in all areas concerning consumers .
Training needs are more substantial than could be
covered under the activities of the project. Focused
periodic training modules are needed.
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


Manpower issues are also pertinent in this context.
A bigger team for the project will help in better
implementation & impact.
Varying capacities of the partners to grasp &
internalise the training inputs.
This was the first project and first initiative of its
kind in the State on capacity building of consumers
on Reform Process in Electricity Sector.
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Other Factors which Created Limitations
o Rigid mindset and traditional outlook of the older
personnel at the local level in the distribution
system.
o Abysmal ignorance of consumers about Reform
process in Electricity sector
o Absolute lack of knowledge about the provisions laid
down in the Regulations and about WBERC.
o Lack
of
robust
information
dissemination
mechanisms and awareness programmes
of the
Utilities and the Regulatory Commission.
21
Opportunities



There is an urgent need for undertaking periodic
capacity building and awareness programmes and
training programmes.
Need to extend the project to other districts of the
State and neighbouring states, north-eastern
states in particular.
Need for establishment of a parallel and informal
3-tier redressal mechanism at the districts and
further down the level by building Consumer
Assistance Cells.
22
Informal 3-tier redressal mechanism
proposed

Consumer Assistance Cell at the District level

Consumer Assistance Cell at CUTS-CRC

Complaint redressal of short listed cases at the
Utility offices every alternate month.
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Opportunities (contd.)



Need to further engage with the Media and sensitise
them on consumer and environmental / climate
change issues related to Power and Energy.
Need to continue engaging with the WBERC officials
and strengthen our relationship.
CUTS-CRC is now being invited by the major players
in the power & energy sector to partner them in
their capacity building/ awareness generation
programmes and Grassroots projects.
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Threats




Frequent reshuffling of senior government officials
may hinder the advocacy efforts
Change in Political and Social environment may
affect and diminish the impact of our efforts.
There is a possibility that a few participants from
the GIM Phase I may not be available for the GIM
second phase.
Limited time available for second phase of the GIMs
to be organised during the summers months may
create organisational & logistical hurdles and affect
participation of rural consumers.
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27
Back
Name
Co-Ordinates
1
Mr. Sunil Mitra
Principal secretary, Dept of Power & NES, Govt. of West Bengal
2
Mr. A. K. Basu
Member, State Planning Board, West Bengal
3
Prof. Sujay Basu
Director, Centre of Energy and Environment Management
4
Dr. Asish Ghosh
Director, Centre for Environment and Development
5
Mr. K. L. Biswas
Secretary, WBERC
6
Mr. Malay Kr. De
Chairman & Managing Director, WBSEDCL
7
Mr. D.C. Dutta
Chief Engineer, WBSEDCL
8
Mr. Utpal Bhattacharyya
Executive Director, Corporate Service ,CESC
9
Mr. Aniruddha Basu
General Manager, Operations, CESC
10
Prof. Nabinananda Sen
Reader Dept. of Business Management , University of Calcutta,
11
Mrs. Mala Banerjee
President, Federation of Consumer Associations, West Bengal (FCAWB)
12
Mr. R.M. Nag Choudhury
Public Affairs Officer, Federation of Consumer Associations, West Bengal (FCAWB)
13
Mr. Jayanta Basu
Correspondent, The Telegraph
14
Mr. Krishnendu Banerjee
Special Correspondent ,Times of India
15
Mr. Anish Gupta
Reporter, Hindustan Times
16
Mr. Goutam Gupta
Reporter , Ananda Bazar Patrika
17
Mr. Prititosh Ray
Member,
18
Mr. Dilip Samajpati
Sr. Manager, Customer Relations, CESC
19
Mr. Mriganka Majumdar
Executive Director (Commercial), WBSEDCL
20
Mr. Anupam Ray
Associate Director, KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd.
21
Mr. S. K. Kundu
Consultant, Green Energy Development Corporation Ltd.
Department of Power & NES, Govt. of West Bengal
WEBERC
Back
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Back29
West Bengal with its 10 select districts and
the names of the partners
North (Uttar)
Dinazpur
Islampur Ramakrishnapally Rural
Welfare Society
Malda
Chanchal Janakalyan Samity
Murshidabad
Palsa Pally Unnayan Samity
Nadia
Sreema MAhila samity
Purulia
Purulia District Agrogami Mahila O
Sishumangal Samity
North
24 Parganas
Khardah Kreta Swartha Suraksha
Samity
Howrah
Aggrogati
Hooghly
The Residents of Consumer
Association
Midnapur
Birshingha Vidyasagar Society for
Social Service
Kolkata
Environment Governed Integrated
Organisation
30
Back