Power problems

Power supply to UP and Delhi may be cut off because of non-payment of dues to NTPC. Bearing in mind the fact that UPSEB is also the state electricity board which makes the biggest losses in the country, the situation could scarcely have been different. Both Delhi and UP have not paid their dues for nine months, and hence, NTPC has little option but to cut off supply. The supply to West Bengal has been cut off. The causes for this pathetic state of affairs are well known, and so are the remedies. Unless measures like recovering the cost of power from the agricultural sector, refurbishing old units to improve the plant load factor and drastically improving the transmission and distribution network network are taken, the SEBs will continue to default, and this will have a major negative impact on the disinvestment plans for NTPC, as well as for attracting investment in the power sector in general. The only other option is for state governments to directly subsidise the end-users, but not many states are, or willbe, in a position to do so particularly when IPPs will go on stream.

The biggest problem with the power sector is that problems and solutions are known, but steps are taken to aggravate the problem rather than solve it. Maharashtra's efforts to provide free power to farmers is a case in point. So far as energy conservation goes, the government seems to be convinced that since 100 per cent depreciation is allowed on energy-saving equipments, energy conservation will be automatic. This has not happened so far and energy conservation measures are the most urgent need of the hour.

If the past is any indication, NTPC will be forced to supply power for purely political reasons. Incidentally, both UP and Delhi are ruled by the BJP, and the state of affairs in their electricity boards is a better commentary on the commitment to power-sector reforms than all the utterances of the power minister.

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