Uttar Pradesh Power Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) has started giving tough competition to private players, including Torrent Power, in bidding for distribution of power in select urban areas of the state.
The state government will implement franchisee-based power transmission and distribution systems in Kanpur, Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and Moradabad in the first phase to primarily contain rampant pilferage in the power sector.
Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) had invited bids from qualified firms and the JAC bid for all the five centres. Under the proposed system, the selected franchisee will be allotted power units at a fixed price for distribution and will realise revenue from consumers and in turn repay UPPCL.
The financial bids for Kanpur were opened yesterday and the JAC had quoted the highest levelised tariff of
Rs 2.18 per unit for the proposed lease period of 20 years, followed by Torrent Power at Rs 2.17 and Jamshedpur Utilities & Services Company Ltd (JUSCO) at Rs 2.16 per unit.
After technical bids were opened on February 17, the JAC emerged as the only bidder for Gorakhpur and Moradabad.
Kanpur Electricity Supply Company Ltd (KESCO) — a subsidiary of UPPCL — is distributing power in Kanpur city at present. The city has about 487,000 consumers and has an annual consumption of 1.07 billion units and revenues of nearly Rs 600 crore per annum.
