State to buy 1,000MW to meet power crunch this summer.
Bracing for power crunch during the coming summer, the government has opted for early bidding to purchase over 1,000MW of electricity from private producers to tide over the surge in demand once the mercury begins to rise.
The state cabinet on Friday approved the proposal to make short-term and long-term bids to purchase power from private producers in the tariff band of Rs3.75 per unit and maximum of `5.08 per unit in accordance with orders from Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC).
The government has opted for early bidding after last year’s bitter lessons when it spent `3,847crore to purchase power at exorbitant rates as it was forced to bid during peak demand season. “This year, we will bid for 1,000MW to meet the summer demand. The average price per unit could be `4.87. The situation will not be too bad this summer as water levels in our hydel-power stations are satisfactory and we will have an assured generation of 40 million units per day,” said higher education minister VS Acharya after the cabinet meeting.
The KERC has authorised the government to purchase 5,000 million units for the three year period from 2010 to 2013.
“The situation is better compared to last year and it will improve further for 2012-13 as the Udupi Thermal plant and the third unit of Bellary Thermal Plant would start generating power,” Acharya said.
The government would plan its purchases in advance for 2012-13, too, to ensure that the supply is assured at a reasonable price.
Assembly from January 30
A 10-day session of the legislature would begin on January 30, law and parliamentary affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar said on Friday. He said it would commence with an address by governor HR Bhardwaj to the joint session.
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