Industry wants reforms in power

NEW DELHI, AUG 1: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) today mooted corporatisation of state electricity boards (SEBs) for attracting private investments into the country’s power sector and curb unfair pricing through cross-subsidisation.

"The proposed Power Trading Corporation should be empowered to sign power purchase agreements with independent power producers and sell power directly to SEBs and this can usher in the much-needed transparency in the system," chamber president K P Singh said.

In a strategy paper submitted to the power ministry, he said there was an average energy shortage of 10 per cent and peaking shortage of over 20 per cent. Regulations governing the Power Trading Corporation should incorporate the concept of central power pool to facilitate wheeling and banking of power by various power producers and encourage free exchange of power from surplus to deficit sates, he said. Distribution was the first area that needed to be privatised, Singh asserted.