Hike in Power Tariff Inevitable : Energy Minister
Bangalore, Jul 11 (DHNS): The Government had gone for a mega purchase of power to tide over the crisis in the last year.
A total of 6,463.48 million units of power was purchased paying a heavy price of Rs 13.60 per unit of power generated by private companies.
According to Energy Minister K S Eshwarappa’s reply to an unstarred question by Congress member S Ravi in the Legislative Council, the Government had no option but to purchase power from private companies to meet the demand in the last year. The Government purchased 135.26 mu of power at Rs 13.60 per unit from the GMR power plant. As much as 125.29 mu of power was purchased from Sree Rayalseema Power Corporation Ltd at Rs 8.76 per unit. The least price (Rs 3.18 per unit) is paid to power purchased from private mini hydel projects. From co-generation plants in sugar factories of the State the Government purchased 812.39 mu at Rs 6.12 per unit.
The Opposition members alleged that the Government purchased power by spending the huge amount only during the elections. Refuting the allegation Eshwarappa said the Government provided sufficient power even during the school exams and also after the polls. Only during the last week of June and first week of July it was inevitable to go for load-shedding. “Now, the situation has improved with increased water levels in reservoirs,” he said. The estimated total demand for power for 2009-10 was about 51,019 mu. The Government was expecting to meet the demand up to 44,550 mu from its generation stations, he said.
Hike in tariff
Eshwarappa said revision of power tariff was inevitable in the present situation. In the last year the Government spent a huge amount on purchase of power. The power tariff had not been revised since 2003, and that had made power supply companies face financial cruch. The Government had already submitted a proposal for upward revision of the tariff before the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission.
He was angry when the Opposition benches alleged that the entire State was in dark and the government had failed to tackle the power crisis. Pointing his fingers at the Opposition benches he said “Today we are suffering because of the omissions you committed”. Opposition benches were irritated by his statement. They asked the minister to withdraw his statement. But he did not budge. JD(S) leader M C Nanaiah intervened and asked the minister not to dilute the issue by holding the previous governments responsible for the situation. Chairman Veeranna Mathikatti assured the members of time for a detailed debate.