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| Torrent Power to put Rs 700 cr in UP |
| Virendra Singh Rawat / New Delhi/ Lucknow May 21, 2009, 00:35 IST |
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Torrent Power will invest over Rs 700 crore to spruce up the distribution network in the urban areas of Kanpur and Agra.
Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has appointed Torrent for power distribution in the two cities, which account for the maximum line losses in the state. Torrent will invest Rs 500 and Rs 200 crore in Kanpur and Agra respectively.
Torrent was selected as a power distribution franchisee through a competitive bidding in February 2009, and a formal agreement was signed on May 18 after the election model code of conduct got over.
“Torrent has started the groundwork and will take up the power distribution operations soon,” UPPCL chairman and managing director Navneet Sehgal said here.
The transmission and distribution losses are above 42 and 47 per cent at Agra and Kanpur respectively. “Torrent will not only improve the power situation in these areas, but also improve customer services as per the agreement,” he informed.
Torrent will buy power from UP at Rs 1.96 per unit and Rs 2.17 for Agra and Kanpur respectively for distribution and later realise the revenue from the consumers. The current realisation by UPPCL at these two places is Rs 1.33 and Rs 1.68 respectively.
The final tariff charged by Torrent from the consumers for the next 20 years will first be ratified by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Meanwhile, similar private distribution system is in the pipeline for seven other cities namely Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Aligarh and Meerut. A pre-bid meeting was held last week in which 16 top power companies had participated.
The per capital power availability in UP is 340 Kilowatt (Kw) per annum compared with the national average of 672 Kw. “The state government is working on an ambitious plan to ramp up power availability in the state by 25,000 Megawatt (Mw) in the next Twelfth Five Year Plan,” he added.
Sehgal informed this would be made possible by setting up new power plants in the public and private sectors and buying power from all possible sources in the country. “We have already floated a tender to buy 2,000 Mw under case I,” he said.
Besides, under the public private partnership model, the state government will set up new power plants at Sonebhadra (2,000 Mw), Lalitpur (4,000), Etah (2,000) and Bulandshahr (2,000). Under the state sector, 5,000 Mw would be generated at the proposed Anpara E.
He said the overall power demand was over 9,000 Mw in UP and the supply was hovering around 6,000 Mw at present. “By 2011, we plan to make available an additional 5,000 Mw of power in the state,” Sehgal added.
Meanwhile, the Power Employees Joint Action Committee has decided to renew its agitation against the franchisee power distribution.
“The UPPCL will incur heavy losses in the future by selling power at such a cheap rate to Torrent and ultimately the consumers will have to suffer by paying higher tariffs,” committee spokesperson Shailendra Dubey told Business Standard.
He informed that the power employees will hold a protest day on May 25 and call upon the chief minister in this regard.
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