A spokesman of the DHBVN said here today that the Nigam has identified one operation division and 13 operation sub-divisions in its area, comprising Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Gurgaon, Mewat and Faridabad. The identified sub-divisions are Hodal (Faridabad Circle), Farukhnagar (Gurgaon Circle), Kanina, Kosli, sub-urban Mahendragarh (Narnaul Circle), Jui, Badhra and sub-urban Dadri (Bhiwani Circle), Narnaund, Barwala (Hisar Circle) and Nathusari (Sirsa Circle), besides Nuh division in Gurgaon Circle.

Bids in respect of all these areas had been received and evaluated and these areas are proposed to be franchised shortly. The franchisees would be required to improve the operational efficiency of the distribution system, quality of service to customers and to bring in management expertise.

Moreover, under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna, appointment and deployment of franchisee is a mandatory condition for sustainable rural electricity supply.

A combination of problems were affecting the ability of DHBVN to render sustainable rural supply with the targeted high customer satisfaction levels. The problems include high transmission and distribution losses, low collection efficiency, low customer service focus, low investment, declining manpower, rising power purchase and other costs. Since the problems are aggravated in some pockets, complete privatisation of DHBVN may not be a right solution.