Maharashtra government mulls power trading corporation

Chandrapur, Maharashtra, May 12 (UNI) The Government of Maharashtra is contemplating the formation of a power trading corporation as part of its effort to tide over the ongoing shortage of electricity in the state.

The proposed corporation would purchase electricity from every source possible in the country, whether big or small, and eliminating the need for going through a bidding process for the same, Maharashtra Minister for Energy Dilip Walse-Patil said here today.

He was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of a 540-megawatt (MW) thermal power plant being set up here by the Hyderabad-based K S K Energy Ventures Ltd (KSKEVL).

Mr Patil later told newsmen that the corporation would be a subsidiary of the Maharashtra State Electricity Holding Company Ltd, of which the existing generation, transmission and distribution companies were the existing subsidiaries. It would primarily, but not necessarily, sell power to consumers in Maharashtra, he said.

''Things are only at the conceptual stage now. Nothing is concrete. We are still contemplating the idea. I cannot say when we will make the final decision,'' Mr Patil said.

MORE UNI