Uttarakhand to set up power trading company

The Uttarakhand government has decided to set up a power trading company to sell electricity which it gets in royalty.

“Discussions have already begun to set up a power trading company,” said a top government official. The government is also working on second option to rope in Power Trading Corporation (PTC).

“There are two options — first to set up a power trading company of our own. If not, then rope in a central power trading company,” said the official.

Uttarakhand gets 12 per cent royalty from projects like 1,400 Mw Tehri and 400 Mw Vishnuprayag. In addition to this, a number of new projects are being developed by PSUs like NHPC, THDC and other private player and some of them are in advance stages. With massive industrialisation during the past few years, Uttarakhand is facing power shortage of two to five million units per day. Prior to the industrialisation, Uttarakhand was a power surplus state.

However, a new assessment made by the government has again claimed that the hill state would become a power surplus state in the next three to five years once a number of projects like 120 Mw Vyasi and 600 Mw Kishau dams are commissioned. The power trading company will have the mandate to either sell the power to UPCL, which is the sole distribution company in the state or sell it outside the state.