CCEA approves changes in Mega Power Policy 2009

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) Thursday approved amendments in the Mega Power Policy 2009 for provisional mega power projects, an official release here said.

"The objective is to increase power availability to boost overall growth of the country, and also ensure that consumers are reasonably charged for electricity supplied," the statement added.

According to the amendment, a developer must tie up at least 65 percent of installed capacity through competitive bidding and up to 35 percent of installed capacity under regulated tariff as per the policy of the host state, and under the long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with distribution companies (discoms) or state utilities designated agency.

"This dispensation would be one time and limited to 15 projects which are located in the states having mandatory host State power tie up policy of PPAs under regulated tariff," the statement said.

The second amendment extends the maximum time period for furnishing final certificates to tax authorities to 60 months instead of 36 months from the date of import for provisional mega projects, the statement said.

The Mega Power Policy was amended in 2009 to make it liberal and operationally more effective. The amended policy allowed developers to tie up all power to even one state only, while as per the National Electricity Policy they could also sell power up upto 15 percent outside the long-term PPA.