RDSS Scheme and Underground Cabling – A Survey Guide

Updated: 23 October 2026

What is the RDSS scheme?

The RDSS scheme, or Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme, is a central government programme to make power distribution companies financially sound and operationally efficient. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved it on 30 June 2021 (Power Line, July 2021). The Ministry of Power lists an outlay of ₹3,03,758 crore, including gross budgetary support of ₹97,631 crore from the Centre.

Its two headline targets are to bring aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses down to 12–15% across India and to close the gap between the average cost of supply and the average revenue realised (ACS-ARR gap). The scheme period was set as FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26. In 2025 the Ministry of Power sought a two-year extension (Energetica India, March 2025), so check the current timeline with the RDSS portal or your DISCOM before planning around it.

How does the revamped distribution sector scheme work?

RDSS is results-linked. A DISCOM prepares proposals, meets pre-qualifying criteria and is evaluated each year against an agreed plan; release of funds depends on that performance. REC Ltd and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) act as nodal agencies, sanctioning projects and monitoring progress.

Part A – metering

Prepaid smart meters for consumers and system meters on feeders and distribution transformers, so energy can be accounted for at each level.

Part A – infrastructure works

Loss reduction works and modernisation of the network, proposed by each DISCOM in its project reports. Central grant for these works is up to 60% of the approved cost, and up to 90% for special category states (Power Line, July 2021).

Part B – training and capacity building

Training, consultancy and enabling activities that help utilities carry out reforms.

Where does RDSS underground cabling fit among DISCOM loss reduction works?

Each DISCOM chooses its own mix of works for its network. Common DISCOM loss reduction works and modernisation items include:

• aerial bunched cable in place of bare LT conductors, to curb hooking;
• high voltage distribution system (HVDS) conversion, using smaller transformers closer to consumers;
• feeder bifurcation and agricultural feeder segregation;
• new or augmented substations and distribution transformers;
• underground cabling with ring main units in dense or vulnerable areas;
• SCADA and distribution management systems in urban centres.

RDSS underground cabling is not universal. Trade reports note that disaster-resilient works sanctioned for some coastal regions include underground cabling, ring main units and aerial bunched cable (T&D India). Whether your package includes buried cable depends entirely on the sanctioned project report.

Of these works, underground cabling, RMU and substation plinths, transformer foundations and new pole or HVDS foundations all involve excavation in public ground. Those are the items where a survey of existing services matters.

What does an RDSS cabling package look like on the ground?

A typical turnkey package bundles many small works across several towns of one circle or division. In a city it might hold a few kilometres of 11 kV cable along municipal roads, RMUs at feeder junctions, plinths for new transformers and short LT cable runs to feeder pillars. In rural areas the same package may hold HVDS points, feeder segregation and new poles, with little cable at all.

For survey planning, this means two kinds of job sit side by side: linear routes measured in kilometres, and point sites such as plinths and foundations. Both need scanning before digging, but they are counted differently. Many work fronts also run at once, so the survey has to be organised division by division, not as one long route.

Which RDSS terms should a cabling contractor know?

• AT&C loss: the share of energy input not billed or not paid for, combining technical losses and commercial losses such as theft.
• ACS-ARR gap: the difference between what a unit of power costs the DISCOM and what it earns per unit.
• DPR: detailed project report setting out the works a DISCOM proposes for sanction.
• GBS: gross budgetary support, the central grant share.
• Special category states: north-eastern states and certain hill and island regions eligible for a higher grant share.
• Nodal agency: REC or PFC, which sanction and monitor projects.
• Turnkey contract: a package in which one contractor delivers design, supply, installation and commissioning.

How should a contractor plan the survey on an RDSS package?

1. Read the sanctioned scope. List every work that needs digging: cable routes, RMU and substation sites, transformer plinths and new foundations.
2. Measure lengths and sites. Add up route kilometres per circle or division, and list point sites separately.
3. Mark the crossings. Road, drain, canal and rail crossings need extra scanning and may be bored.
4. Decide on L-section. Check whether the DISCOM's specification asks for a depth profile along any route.
5. Price the whole order. One order covering several divisions can cross a discount slab that separate orders would miss. Our guide to survey quantity in a DISCOM tender BOQ explains the method.
6. Phase the field work. Keep survey crews a few days ahead of excavation in each division.

Why survey before digging on RDSS works?

RDSS packages often run on tight programmes across many towns at once. A single strike on a water main or telecom duct can stop a work front for days, bring claims and draw complaints from the road owner. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) scanning across each route and site shows underground utilities such as existing pipes, ducts and cables, while a cable locator singles out energised ones. Marks on the ground then guide the excavation gang.

The survey is most valuable before cable routes and plinth positions are frozen, so the design can avoid conflicts. Radar reach depends on the soil and on moisture, and a careful report states it for each section. For trenched and drilled cable works alike, read the scope under HT/LT cable route GPR survey, while the power utilities page explains what DISCOM engineers look for in survey records. Where the package is mainly a conversion from overhead lines, our overhead to underground conversion guide goes into that work.

What survey records help at RDSS measurement and audit?

Results-linked schemes are measured and checked closely, so tidy records pay off.

• Survey report per division, using the same work names as the sanctioned DPR.
• Daily log of metres scanned, signed by the site engineer where possible.
• Ground-marking photographs at crossings and equipment sites.
• Notes on stretches where radar reach was limited, with any trial pit confirmation.
• As-laid data in the format the DISCOM's GIS needs.

Drawing sets and GIS layers can be prepared through our CAD and GIS utility mapping service as a separately quoted item. Mezux Touch has no affiliation with REC, PFC, the Ministry of Power or any DISCOM. Our client is the contractor or owner that commissions the survey.

Bidding for an RDSS cabling package?

With 58 GPR systems of its own and survey staff on its payroll, Mezux Touch can open several RDSS work fronts from its Faridabad base. Scanning a route is charged at ₹24 a metre; where an L-section profile is specified, the figure is ₹32. Each order bills a minimum of 4 km; outside Delhi NCR a ₹1,00,000 project floor applies. Whole-order discounts start once a package passes 100 km. GST, mobilisation, night shifts, traffic arrangements and drawing sets are added separately. Test your package length on the GPR survey price list calculator, then send the scope through the quote form.