BANGALORE, JULY 20: Karnataka would have an independent electricity regulatory commission in 30 days, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister B S Patil said on Monday.Patil, also director of the Karnataka Power Corporation (KPCL), said the State had, through the Electricity Reform Bill passed by the Legislative Council on July 9, prepared the ground for forming the Commission which would, among other things, rationalise the fixing of tariffs. He was speaking at a two-day `National Conference on Best Practices in Power Generation' here.Patil pointed out that reforms in the power sector and private sector participation provided consumers with the opportunity to question policy decisions and analyse the working of utilities, so that they would be able to get electricity at the most competitive prices.KPCL managing director K Jairaj said that Unit VI of the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) would be commissioned on July 20, ahead of schedule.The commissioning of the 210 MW unit in 34 months -as part of the RTPS expansion project - had led to a Rs 200 crore saving on the Rs 1,545 crore project, Jairaj said.He also pointed out that codification of best practices, measurement of data and proper management were necessary to improve the power sector.Central Electricity Regulatory Commission chairman S L Rao said that the electricity industry needed interdisciplinary inputs from experts in various fields.Rao pointed out that the country's power sector, because of its State-ownership, had been ``socially'' and not profit-oriented, for too long. It had been the domain of engineers, without any `inter-disciplinary' inputs from specialists in other fields. He even wanted a Centre for Infrastructure Studies to be set up in Bangalore, ``as it has some of the best Science and Management institutions''.He hoped that the recent sectoral reforms - the CERC was set up a year ago - adopted by the Centre and State Governments would bring both competition and efficiency into the power sector and leadto commercial, not Government accounting.He pointed out that in developed countries like the US and UK which had privatised their electricity sectors, competition among power producers had helped to balance supply and demand. In those countries, electricity has become a brand. ``The consumer is able to get power at a price which is the most cost-effective for him or her,'' Rao added.The two-day conference, organised by the KPCL, ends today.
