Helps boost the rural economy by training them in metering, billing and collection work
Balasore,28th December, 2021: One of the major barriers faced by women belonging to the marginal communities in rural areas is to pursue an income generating activity. Prompted by the need to overcome this barrier, TP Northern Odisha Distribution Ltd (TPNODL), trained over 500 women self-help groups in meter reading, billing and collection activities (MBC) in Udala, Baripada & Rairangpur Electrical Divisions under Baripada circles and Keonjhar, Anandpur & Joda Electrical Divisions under Keonjhar Circle.
The session witnessed an encouraging participation from them. So far, over 270 agreements have already been signed between TPNODL and the SHGs, thereby, enabling them to earn INR8000 to INR12000 per month. This will not only streamline the revenue collection process but also help the women to get livelihood opportunities in rural area.
With a twin objective to empower women financially as well as promote a livelihood opportunity for them, TPNODL, through this session, imparted detailed information on behavioral and technical aspects of the metering, billing and collection activities to the WSHGs who, can now effectively undertake these activitiesin the coming days. The pre-agreement interaction also included explaining the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, and process that is followed for agreement of WSHGs, and the daily activities to be performed by the WSHG.
Speaking about this initiative, Mr. Bhaskar Sarkar, CEO, TPNODL, said,"As a socially responsible organization, we always strive to support and empower WSHGs by providingthem livelihood opportunities through our business value chain process. We will continue to create such opportunities for them through various CSR activities.We hope that the WSHGs be thedrivers of change in their family andvillage. This training session is only a first step, which will go a long way in fostering financial independence and social mobility of these women."
TP Northern Odisha Distribution Limited (TPNODL) is a joint venture between Tata Power and the Government of Odisha with the majority stake being held by Tata Power Company (51%). TPNODL serves a population of 97 Lakhs with Customer Base of 19.06 Lakh and a vast Distribution Area of 27,920 Sq. Km.Tata Power has a vast experience in electricity distribution in Mumbai, Delhi and Ajmer and has been a benchmark performer in Delhi for the last 19 years, where losses have been brought down from a high of 53% in 2002 to approximately 7.9% in March 2020. In addition to loss reduction, customer experience has been enhanced by providing one-stop solutions, from state-of-the-art Call Centers and Consumer Care Centers to effective communication and deployment of customer-centric process, creating Customer Delight.At TP Northern Odisha Distribution Limited, the entire focus is on providing reliable power supply, enhanced customer services and reducing the existing AT&C losses of 25.32% in a systematic manner. All this will be achieved by upgrading the present distribution infrastructure, adopting new technologies and provide various digital services to our customers.