Power Min for review of annual funds to states for generation

New Delhi, May 30: The Power Ministry is considering recommending to the Prime Minister to review the annual funds given to states for power generation, especially those that have failed to add capacity in the recent past.

Noting that major power sector reforms were needed including unbundling of state electricity boards and setting up of infrastructure facilities to ensure greater power generation, Mr Shinde said Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses in some states were as high as 70 per cent.

But it was encouraging to note that states such as Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Punjab had shown that losses can be reduced, he said.

Along with the AT&C losses, the country could not afford to have inefficiently run plants having low plant load factor (PLF), the Minister said, adding that while Centrally-run units had a 91 per cent PLF, states like Bihar had PLF below 10 per cent.

The Minister said the power situation had changed tremendously since the 1990s when there was no shortage of electricity except in a few states.

Mr Shinde drew the attention of the state power secretaries that the onus of implementing the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana of 100 per cent electrification of rural households by 2009 lay on them. Today's meeting of state power secretaries has been convened to review the Tenth Plan capacity addition and Eleventh Plan preparedness as also the power supply position and demand side management.

Addressing the gathering, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia stressed that the power sector was the singlemost important constraint holding back India from achieving a GDP growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent.

To overcome this constraint, he suggested bringing down AT&C losses in the power sector from 40 per cent to 15 per cent by end of the 11th Plan (2007-2012).

Too much emphasis was laid on power capacity addition rather than judging whether AT&C losses were on track. Further, higher tariffs only affected the small and medium enterprises which created employment rather than the large enterprises having captive power generation facilities, Mr Ahluwalia said.

Power Secretary R V Shahi said during the past three years, there had been 5.1 to 5.2 per cent growth, and though inadequate, it was an improvement on the growth of about 3 per cent achieved previously.

UNI