NE states for uniform power transmission policy

Aizawl, Sep 15 (UNI) A two-day meeting of the North Eastern Regional Power Committee (NERPC) at Agartala has unanimously demanded a uniform national transmission tariff to maintain parity among the states, official sources said here today.

State power department additional chief engineer H L Parthasarathy said the tariff in NE region was adopted on the resolution of 42nd NEREB meeting on November 13, 1997.

The charges were fixed at 35 paise and shared by the Central and State utilities in proportion to their assets utilised for evacuation of Central power sector of the region, sources said.

The demand assumed significance keeping in view the controversy over the Uniform Common Pool Transmission Tariff (UCPTT) in NE states.

In a discussion on UCPTT, the NERPC had decided to demand adoption of a uniform transmission tariff, Mr Parthasarathy said.

He said the rise in transmission charge in NE region was due to absence of matching power generation that resulted in low utilisation of transmission network built by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL).

''Concentrated efforts are required towards formulation of national transmission tariff to replace existing ad-hoc UCPTT to provide relief to NER states,'' he said.

Mr Parthasarathy also said the Central Electricity Regulatory Committee (CERC) included the new transmission lines under UCPTT and revised the sharing of UCPTT charges in proportion to the assets of the Central and State utilities for Central sector power evacuation and the CERC has ordered for its implementation from 2000.

The constituent states approached the CERC for review of the order in the light of difficulties that would be faced in recovering the arrears from the consumers, he said.

The NER power committee resolved to approach CERC for the continuation of existing sharing of UCPTT charge till May 9, 2005 and implementing revision of the sharing, he added.

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