Delhi govt asks Centre to cancel deal with power cos

GOVT SAYS THAT IF THE POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS ARE CANCELLED POWER TARIFF MAY FURTHER REDUCE IN DELHI

NEW DELHI: Delhi power minister Satyendar Jain on Monday met Union power minister Piyush Goyal and urged him to cancel the current expensive power purchase agreements.

Ever since coming to power, the AAP government has maintained that the Capital may see further cuts in tariff if the Centre gives it the authority to cancel the existing power purchase agreements with electricity generating companies, entered into by the Sheila Dikshit government.

The long-term power purchase pacts will have to be scrapped to bring down the power rates. “Power is being bought for anywhere from `5-9 per unit in Delhi at the moment. Many companies have offered us cheaper power per unit in five-year agreements. However, the previous governments have entered into 30-year-long agreements,” a government source said.

The Union power minister, however, said that it was not possible to scrap these agreements, sources said.

The state government is already providing a subsidy in power bills by half for many consumers in Delhi. In this year’s budget, a provision of `1600 crore has been made for this subsidy, which reduces the electricity bills by 50% for all consumers consuming up to 400 units. This allocation has been raised from last year’s `1,427 crore – a 12% hike – so that more people are benefitted from this scheme.