Himachal agrees to get Rs.157 crore power arrears from UP

The Himachal Pradesh government Saturday agreed to Uuttar Pradesh's proposal to pay arrears of Rs.157 crore for electricity supplied to it in 2011, an official said.

The cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, approved acceptance of the proposal of Uttar Pradesh government with late payment surcharge of six percent on the principal amount, a government spokesperson told IANS.

Official sources said earlier Uttar Pradesh had given Rs.30 crore to the state as electricity dues.

The previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state had sold electricity worth about Rs.200 crore in 2011 to Uttar Pradesh.

Pleading the case at a conference of energy ministers in Delhi on Feb 5, Power Minister Sujan Singh Pathania had asked the central government to release the amount directly from Uttar Pradesh's planning fund.

Officials of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd said that Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand were among the regular buyers of power from the hill state.

Himachal Pradesh, one of the country's largest hydropower producers, earned Rs.700 crore last year by selling electricity to other states.

This fiscal, say officials, it hopes to earn an additional Rs.200 crore as royalty with the commissioning of 30 projects to add 2,200 MW to the existing 8,418 MW.