The conference will provide an excellent opportunity for your organisation to showcase its products and services. We have developed two impactful and value-oriented sponsorship packages under which the deliverables include:

Lead Sponsor:

• Up to six delegate registrations (from the sponsoring company)
• One speaking slot.
• Electronic Direct Mailer (EDM) campaign with sponsor logo to master database
• Hyperlink of sponsor website on the event website page
• Mention on all conference promotional material (mailings, ads, etc.)
• Distribution of sponsor promotional material to each delegate
• Prominent logo presence at the conference (backdrop, vertical panel, jacket cover, e-brochure, etc.)

Co-sponsor:

• Up to four delegate registrations (from the sponsoring company)
• Exhibition space at the conference. (2mX 2m)
• Electronic Direct Mailer (EDM) campaign with sponsor logo to master database
• Hyperlink of sponsor website on the event website page
• Mention on all conference promotional material (mailings, ads, etc.).
• Distribution of sponsor promotional material to each delegate.
• Logo presence at the conference (backdrop, vertical panel, jacket cover, e-brochure, etc.).

The LaLiT (An enterprise of Bharat Hotels Limited)
Barakhamba Avenue,
Connaught Place, New Delhi – 110 001, India

Kanan Kumar
Tel: +91-11-41034615 (D),
M: +91-9891210461
Email: kanan.kumar@indiainfrastructure.com

Megha Apte
Email: megha.apte@indiainfrastructure.com
Mobile: +91-9582345887, +91-11- 41034616, +91-11-41034615

• The power distribution segment is expected to be a key priority area for government reforms over the next few years.
• An upgraded and improved version of the flagship Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme has been announced for addressing the fundamental issue of discom health. A new power tariff policy is also on the anvil. It will impose restrictions on allowing losses as a pass-through in tariff and introduce penalties for load shedding. The other big moves proposed for the segment are the electricity amendment bill, which provides for the separation of carriage and content, and the direct benefit transfer of subsidy.
• The recent order on the new payment security mechanism is also one of the key reform measures taken by the government. In a significant development, discoms have been directed to provide letters of credit for power purchase to ensure timely payments to gencos. The segment has also witnessed the formation of the National Electricity Distribution Company as well as the award of franchise bids by state discoms.
• That said, the current state of the power distribution segment remains a key area of concern. While there have been some operational improvements, these have been lower than the envisaged levels. For instance, AT&C losses for UDAY states reduced from over 20 per cent in the base year to over 18 per cent in 2018-19. However, they are still higher than the 15 per cent level targeted for March 2019.
• Progress in smart metering has been slower than anticipated. Further, despite the ACS-ARR gap reduction and improvement in the liquidity position of discoms, there is considerable stress in the sector owing to rising outstanding receivables to gencos (which increased to Rs 698.5 billion as of June 2019, from Rs 447.81 billion a year ago). Also, discoms are still not looking at long-term power procurement as they continue to buy power from the short-term market.
• These issues notwithstanding, the segment has seen a significant thrust on grid strengthening and connectivity in the past few years, driven by large-scale government programmes. With Saubhagya, the important milestone of 100 per cent household electrification was achieved last year. Discoms are working towards improving the power quality given that they now have a bigger responsibility of managing a large network and consumer base, and controlling the AT&C losses.
• Work under the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) for urban areas and the DDUGJY for rural areas is also being completed in mission mode. Investments in several key areas such as underground cabling, GIS substations, IT-enablement, SCADA, feeder separation, etc. are being undertaken under these schemes.
• On the smart grid front, all pilot projects have now been completed, making way for larger roll-outs. Meanwhile, the National Smart Grid Mission is facilitating more smart grid projects. Discoms are also preparing for a complete shift to smart prepaid meters. The pay-as-you-save model for expediting smart meter roll-outs under the Smart Meter National Programme is enabling them to benefit from zero upfront investments.
• Amid these developments, discoms are preparing to cope with the greater penetration of renewable energy sources, increasing distributed generation sources, large-scale deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) as well as real-time and efficient demand response. As a result, more and more discoms are expected to turn towards digital solutions and technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data analytics to keep pace with a rapidly changing market.
• The mission of the conference is to analyse the key trends and developments in the distribution segment, discuss the impact and progress under key government programmes, and showcase the best practices and new initiatives being taken by discoms. It will also highlight the new and emerging technologies and solutions, as well as examine the potential opportunities and challenges.

TRENDS AND OUTLOOK

• What have been the key trends in the power distribution segment?
• What has been the operational and financial performance of the segment?
• What are the key issues and concerns? What is the outlook?

GOVERNMENT PERSPECTIVE

• What are the government’s views on the current state of the distribution segment?
• What has been the progress under various government initiatives (IPDS, DDUGJY, Saubhagya, NSGM, etc.)?
• What are the government’s key areas of concern and future outlook?

PUBLIC DISCOMS’ PERSPECTIVE

• What is the perspective of public discoms on the power distribution segment?
• What have been the recent initiatives?
• What are their future plans? What are the key issues and concerns?

PRIVATE DISCOMS’ PERSPECTIVE

• What is the perspective of private discoms on the power distribution segment?
• What are the key issues and concerns?
• What are their future plans and outlook for the segment?

UDAY AND BEYOND

• What has been the performance of discoms vis-à-vis targets under UDAY?
• Which are the better performing states?
• What are the key issues and concerns? What is the way forward?

COSTS, TARIFFS AND POWER PROCUREMENT OUTLOOK

• What has been the trend in the power purchase cost of discoms?
• What has been the trend in their tariff revisions?
• What is the outlook for short-, medium- and long-term power procurement by discoms in the next one to two years?

REGULATORS’ PERSPECTIVE

• What is the perspective of regulators on the power distribution segment?
• What are the key issues and areas of concern for regulators?
• What is the regulator’s outlook for the segment?

DISTRIBUTION FRANCHISEES

• What has been the experience of DFs? What are the lessons learnt?
• What are the successful DF models?
• What are the new and upcoming bids in the pipeline? What is the outlook for DFs?

SMART METERING UPDATE

• What has been the progress in the uptake of smart metering?
• What are the implementation challenges being faced?
• What is the level of discom preparedness in terms of complete smart metering?

NSGM AND SMART GRID UPDATE

• What have been the key lessons learnt from pilot projects?
• What is the status of smart grid projects under execution under the NSGM?
• What are the new technologies being adopted? What are the next steps planned under the

NSGM?  FOCUS ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES: AI, ML AND BLOCKCHAIN

• What are the potential areas of application of new technologies such as AI, ML and blockchain?
• What are the issues and concerns related to these technologies?
• How can utilities prepare for AI and ML adoption?

EVs AND DISTRIBUTION GRID

• What is the expected impact of EV integration on distribution networks?
• What are the potential power quality problems due to the increasing penetration of EVs?
• What are the strategies and solutions to mitigate the impact?

DISTRIBUTION AUTOMATION

• What are the new and emerging discom requirements?
• What are the innovative technologies and solutions for outage management, asset and load management, etc.?
• What are the future plans of utilities?

FOCUS ON POWER QUALITY

• What are the key issues and challenges related to power quality?
• What are the best practices being followed for improving power quality?
• What are the promising technologies and solutions in this regard?

BILLING AND PAYMENTS

• What are the billing and payment-related challenges for discoms?
• What are the best practices being followed by discoms?
• What are the new and emerging technologies and solutions being adopted for billing and payments?

CYBERSECURITY

• What are the data privacy-related risks that utilities are exposed to?
• What are the best practices for strengthening cybersecurity?
• What are the new and emerging technologies and solutions in this regard?

LOSS REDUCTION AND REVENUE MANAGEMENT

• What has been utility experience in loss reduction?
• What are the best practices being followed for revenue management?
• What are the planned initiatives of discoms?

ROOFTOP SOLAR AND DISCOMS

• What are the opportunities and challenges of discoms associated with integrating rooftop solar?
• What are the technical and operational concerns of discoms regarding the integration of rooftop solar?
• What are the initiatives being taken by discoms for promoting rooftop solar?

FOCUS ON EQUIPMENT: TRANSFORMERS, SUBSTATIONS, CABLES AND CONDUCTORS

• What are the new and emerging discom needs and requirements?
• What are some of the latest designs and technologies?
• What has been the uptake so far?

For speaking opportunities, please contact:
Neha Mathur
Email: neha.mathur@indiainfrastructure.com
Mob: + 91 8826000927

The conference is targeted at officials and managers from:

• State discoms
• Private discoms
• Distribution franchises
• Equipment manufacturers
• Technology providers
• Regulatory institutions
• IT-based products and services
  provider
• Marketers of enterprise software solutions
• Communication/Connectivity solution providers
• Funding agencies
• Government agencies (central/state)
• Contractors
• Research organisations
• Consultancy organisations, etc

Kanan Kumar
Tel: +91-11-41034615 (D),
M: +91-9891210461
Email: kanan.kumar@indiainfrastructure.com

Megha Apte
Email: megha.apte@indiainfrastructure.com
Mobile: +91-9582345887, +91-11- 41034616, +91-11-41034615