AIPEF warns against 'over dependence' on private sector for energy

The federation has demanded in order to provide affordable power to all, the govt must adopt a 'balanced approach'

All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has warned the central and Uttar Pradesh governments against the alleged policy of over dependence on the private sector for the country's energy requirements.

The Federation has demanded in order to provide affordable power to all, the government must adopt a 'balanced approach' in allocating power projects between the public and private sectors, AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey has said.

The Union Power ministry had earlier decided to close power units, which were 25 years old to allow utilisation of the surplus energy available with private generators.

Now, NITI Aayog has earmarked more power projects to the private sector during the current 12th Five Year Plan than public sector, he noted.

Under the current plan, the Aayog has set a capacity addition target of 88,537 Megawatt (Mw), of which the central and the state governments are expected to add over 26,000 Mw and 15,000 Mw respectively, while the private sector has bagged the major chunk of energy projects totalling almost 46,000 Mw.

Dubey warned that 'over dependence' on private sector for capacity addition was not good for consumers as the private companies' objective was to earn profit.

The Federation said that the public sector must execute 70% of new generating stations, while the private companies be allocated only 30% of new projects.

He said that the existing policy would only lead to handing over the country's power sector to the private sector in future.

Currently, India has generation capacity of about 300,000 Mw against maximum demand of 165,000 Mw. "Under these circumstances, the thrust on private sector was misplaced and needed urgent review," he underlined, adding even today the private sector had over 100,000 Mw capacity.