The engineers of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) have warned the State Government of its increasing dependence on the private sector for generating power, saying that the price of power units will only rise should the trend continue.
More than a 1,000 members of the PSEB Engineers' Association converged on Sunday for the body's annual general meeting and spoke about how the role of the State-run power plants in generation was diminishing.
SAD's senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was the chief guest and represented the State Government. Association president Baldev Singh Sran, in his address, said that an increasing share of the private sector in generation meant rising fixed liability charges to be paid to them, thus leading to a hike in the cost of power.
Sran said that the State’s share in the generation capacity was around 55 per cent around a decade ago, but has now fallen to 30 per cent. “It shall further fall below 20 percent in the next five years, which shall dilute State control for optimum grid operation,” he said.
He said that at least two new “super critical” thermal plants must be set up in a phased manner to ensure that the State reclaims its adequate share in power generation.
“Most of the States are enhancing their generation capacity with a mix of State and private investment except Punjab that has relied totally on private investment. Moreover, Punjab has been allotted a dedicated coal mine and there should be no problem regarding coal supply for State-sector plants," he said.
Another challenge before the State seems to be tackling the surplus power. Sran said that the State may have to pay approximately Rs2,500 crore as fixed charges to private generating plants even when their electricity is not required.
Other speakers, including All India Power Engineers’ Federation (AIPEF) chairman Shailendra Dubey, its chief patron Padamjit Singh and PSEB Engineers’ Association patron MS Bajwa, also raised the issue of the proposed amendment to the electricity bill by the NDA Government at the Centre.
They termed the proposal to make tariff policy mandatory as an attempt by the Central Government “to wrest the powers of the States in managing their power sectors”.