State to purchase power from open market or else industry can’t be supplied power: Sudin – EQ Mag Pro

Decision on power purchase to be taken this evening or tomorrow; Or else factories have to use generators at Rs 30 per unit or shut down.

PANJIM: Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar on Monday said that the Electricity Department will purchase power from open market to tide over the power shortage of 125 MW in the State and ruled out load shedding.

But the assurance came with an alarm bell.

The minister said that at present, Goa’s power requirement is 700 MW per day. Dhavalikar further said that if the government decides not to purchase additional power then it will have to stop supplying power to industries from April 30 and the industries will have to use generators at Rs 30 per unit or else factories will have to shut down.

“I will send the file for purchase of power from open market to Chief Minister today (Monday) and a final decision will be taken by Chief Minister by Tuesday evening,” Dhavalikar said after chairing a review meeting of all assistant engineers of the department.

Dhavalikar said that there is shortage of 125 to 150 MW power daily in the State due to the summer and this shortage can be met with purchase of power from the open market.

The State government will come up with solutions for the power shortage in Goa and sort out the problem faced by industries within the next two days, he said adding that the Chief Minister will brief regarding this after the cabinet meeting slated for Wednesday or by Tuesday evening once the approval is granted. Such a decision requires financial concurrence, he added.

According to the Power Minister, the need to purchase additional power from the open market has been necessitated due to less allocation of power from the national grid to all the States. Every State in the country is undertaking load shedding, but categorically said Goa would not resort to load shedding.

“Therefore in order to overcome shortfall of 125 MW of power per day so as to help the industries, the government will buy additional power in open market at over Rs 12.50 per unit and distribute it to all commercial and High Tension (HT) category industries situated across the State with additional cost between Rs 1.50 and Rs 2 per unit approximately, over the existing tariff,” he said.

Earlier, the Power Minister asked assistant engineers to undertake pre-monsoon maintenance works and to ensure that all pending applications for power connections are cleared within a month and that the power bills are issued to consumers on a monthly basis.

Unhappy industry says address line losses, power theft

The possibility of load shedding to overcome power crisis during the summer has not gone well with industry associations that have made various suggestions to tide over the crisis.

Goa State Industries Association (GSIA) said that currently the sudden load shedding is causing huge financial losses to the industry, which is still to recover from the COVID-19 aftermath as well as the rising costs of raw materials.

Running of generators, besides causing financial losses would also cause heavy environmental destruction, GSIA president Damodar Kochkar said while reacting to Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar’s statement that industries should use generators at Rs 30 per unit.

Kochkar said that currently Goa is facing a power shortage of around 100 MW, compelling the Electricity Department to go in for daily load shedding with the industry taking the brunt of it. Dhavalikar took a positive initiative of engaging the industry associations to find a solution by convening a meeting, at his residence on Good Friday, despite it being a holiday.

On Monday, the Minister presided over a joint meeting between the industry associations, Secretary (Power) and the Chief Electrical Engineer, Kochkar said adding that the industry associations led by GSIA and supported by GCCI and GPMA agreed to bail out the government of this predicament, with the HT and HTE consumers bearing the additional cost of traded power purchased from the open market as per the JERC norms.

According to Kochkar, the industry associations made an ardent appeal to the Power Minister to address the situation of huge line losses as well as power thefts which amount to around 20-25 per cent, which not only are a huge loss to the State exchequer, but also one of the main contributors to the industry now having to pay for this additional power costs in lieu.

Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT) president Nitin Kunkolienkar demanded that the government supply power to those industries which are contributing to Goa’s economy and providing employment to locals and close down certain type of industries, which are not contributing to Goa’s economy but using power at low tariff and causing destruction of environment.

Stating that industries are coming out of COVID-19 pandemic, Kunkolienkar suggested that the government should now go aggressively for solar power, wind mills and conservation of power.

Cuncolim Industries Association president Abhay Keni said that the Power Minister spoke about load shedding without calculating the losses that State exchequer would bear. He claimed that the industry was generating revenue for the State government in the form of GST and government would be the loser if it resorts to load shedding.

Keni said that the government was receiving Rs six lakh per day from 90,000 kg of steel per day produced by six steel manufacturing industries in the Cuncolim industrial estate. “I hope government will understand that they are the beneficiaries,” he said.

Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) State Council chairman Mauniguirish Pai Raikar said that it is not commercially feasible and viable for micro industries to run on generators as cost of the end product will shoot up and there will be no buyers for it. He said that the government has to facilitate the functioning of industries which are generating employment, revenue and paying the highest rates for power in the State.

Raikar said that despite several warnings, the government had failed to curtail transmission and distribution (T&D) losses and failed to provide quality power due to non-replacement of conductors and other equipments. “It is the government’s bounden duty to sdupply power to industries generating employment, revenues and paying highest rates for power in the State,” he said.

Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Director Santosh Amonkar said that a delegation of GCCI will meet Dhavalikar on Tuesday and submit a detailed proposal regarding power scenario in Goa and what needs to be done to improve power supply.

Source: heraldgoa