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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has indicated a thrust on power sector reforms.
Khattar, who also holds the portfolio of minister of power, said in the ongoing Assembly session the transmission and distribution losses of the state power utilities stood at 16 per cent and this plain theft of power restricts the power supply to the end-users.
He said schemes to ensure the efficient management of power sector would be drawn. Khattar also said the Opposition and the general public would be involved in decision-making process of the government.
Addressing the under-utilisation of installed generation capacity in the state, Khattar said the present installed capacity was 5,000 megawatts (Mw) against the demand of 4,000 Mw.
The total number of power plants in Haryana is 20 and on an average eight to nine plants remain functional. The state can have surplus power if the optimum utilisation of the power generation capacity is restored.
The then Congress government in Haryana, led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, resorted to populism in the past few months.
The open-ended subsidies on power, giveaways such as no tariff revision in the financial year 2014-15 and subsidies to the agriculture consumers put an extra financial burden on the power utilities.
The short-run power liabilities of the state till March 31, 2012, are Rs 18,000 crore. According to the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission, Agriculture power subsidy bill of the state amounts to Rs 5,284 crore on June 1, 2014.
To bridge the gap between the average revenue realised and average cost of production, the tariff should have been revised by 52 paise a unit.
The revision was deferred, owing to the impending Assembly elections in the state.
Haryana is an agriculture dominant state and the power availability for agriculture is indispensable for irrigation.
The state is also dotted with the clusters of information technology outfits and automobile manufacturers. The rapid urbanisation of the state also adds to the demand for power every year.
