Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Jun 06, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Jun 06, 2002 |
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Industry & Economy
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Power New power tariff policy within 3 months: Prabhu Our Bureau
NEW DELHI, June 5 A NEW power tariff policy is being put in place within the next three months, the Minister for Power, Mr Suresh Prabhu, announced here today. Speaking to newspersons on the sidelines of a conference on power organised by the Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI), Mr Prabhu said: "The draft policy is ready after consultations with all stakeholders, especially the States. We have now sent the policy for comments to an independent organisation.'' This -- the review by an independent body -- has been done to ensure that the interests of all the stakeholders are taken into consideration. The Minister, however, refused to identify the organisation that has been entrusted with the task of scrutinising the draft policy. When approved, the new power tariff policy will form the model or broad framework based on which the state power regulators will be fixing the tariffs for their respective states. In its absence, as of now, the tariff being charged by the States are nowhere near being uniform. The fresh reform initiative comes close on the heels of the measures taken at the instance of Mr Prabhu to bring the power distribution sector back on track. In this regard, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), it may be recalled, had earlier announced the new `availability based tariff' (ABT) norms which have since been implemented by various power generators and states. Earlier, inaugurating the seminar, Mr Prabhu called for the use of new technology in the distribution sector to make the power sector commercially viable. Mr Prabhu noted that while his Ministry was taking initiatives to bring new technology into the sector, large investments in power -- a must for boosting economic growth -- was not coming as it was unviable. "There is an urgent need, therefore, to change the mindsets of the people, who somehow believe that it is the duty of the Government to provide them with electricity,'' he said.
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