DISCOM

Think of the entire electricity system as a long relay race, generation produces the power, transmission carries it over long distances, and the final runner, the one who actually hands the baton to the consumer, is the DISCOM, the Distribution Company.

A DISCOM is typically a state level utility, though a few private players operate in specific cities, responsible for the final stretch of delivering electricity to homes, shops and factories, metering that consumption, and collecting revenue for it. Almost every concept in the power sector eventually connects back to the DISCOM, since PPAs are usually signed with DISCOMs, Open Access rules govern how consumers can bypass them, and RPO obligations are typically imposed directly on them.

Because DISCOMs sit at the exact point where electricity turns into cash flow, their financial health is arguably the single most important variable in the entire Indian power sector, which is why so much policy energy, from UDAY to smart metering, has been directed specifically at fixing DISCOM finances rather than generation or transmission.