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New power tariff policy soon, says Prabhu

Power Minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday said a new power tariff policy would be announced soon as part of the government efforts to ensure supply of quality power at reasonable rates.

The tariff policy is being finalised in consultation with the states. ''We are consulting the states and the new policy will be in place soon,'' Prabhu said in his inaugural address at the first-ever conference on capacity addition in the power sector during the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07).

The government is also prescribing standardisation norms for various power equipment which will bring down the cost of power, he said.

Further, work is on for establishing a national grid which would help prevent collapse of grids and various other transmission problems.

The power ministry has prepared and circulated a note on the proposed national grid and this will be put up before the Union Cabinet shortly, Prabhu said.

The grid will improve availability of power and eliminate shortages.

The two-day conference on capacity addition is being attended by state power secretaries, heads of central power utilities, independent power producers, financial institutions and officials of the power ministry.

Prabhu said that of the 51,000 mw capacity addition target for the Tenth Plan, as much as 48,000 mw could be realised. This is a far cry from the previous two plans when only 16,000 mw (Eighth Plan) and 19,000 mw (Ninth Plan) were added, representing target achievements of 53 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively.

While the Central sector will add 22,832 mw, the state sector will account for 11,157 mw and the private sector 7,121 mw. Non-conventional energy sources will contribute 3,100 mw.

Minister of State for Power Jayawantiben Mehta said that there is no need to depend much on IPPs for capacity addition and her ministry would fully cooperate with power utilities for creating additional capacity.

Central Electricity Authority Chairman H L Bajaj and Power Secretary R V Shahi also spoke on the occasion.

Earlier in the day, while addressing the governing council of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Prabhu asked the bureau to make all out efforts for guiding the industry to achieve a vast energy saving potential through voluntary measures and self regulations.

UNI

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