The Hindu : New Delhi News : Power reforms complete five years in Delhi

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Sunday, Jul 01, 2007
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Power reforms complete five years in Delhi

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Govt’s own verdict is a eulogy

NEW DELHI: As the Capital’s restructured power sector completes five years now, the Government’s own verdict is a eulogy -- achievements on both transmission and generation fronts, sufficient arrangements made for the upcoming Commonwealth Games-2010 and promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy are the areas that the Power Department is eager to claim credit for.

Delhi Transco, which was set up for transmission and generation of power, has turned into a profit-making body, having made Rs. 40 crore as profit and pocketed a cash incentive of Rs. 165 crore on timely payment of power purchase.

But even as Delhi Transco claims to be equipped to meet the power needs of the city, experts are quick to point out that there are several areas that need the Government’s intervention, the more conspicuous among them being the contentious issue of fast running electricity meters, power theft and redress of grievances.

“The transmission network has been strengthened to draw as much power as we need to energise Delhi. The Commonwealth Games will be held in Delhi in 2010 and electricity is important for the development of infrastructure for hosting such a big event. It is estimated that we will require more than 6,000 MW of power during that period against which we have made arrangement for more than 9,000 MW, which put us in very comfortable position for the international event,” said Rakesh Mehta, Principal Secretary (Power), at a function organised to mark the five years of power reforms in the Capital on Saturday.

The reforms in the power sector were implemented in 2002 with the unbundling of the Delhi Vidyut Board and formation of Delhi Transco and the Indraprastha Power Generation Company for transmission and generation of power along with three distribution companies -- BRPL, BYPL and NDPL.

Buoyed by the dip in transmission losses, from 3.84 per cent in 2002 to 0.71 per cent, the department says the focus now is on setting up new power plants and sub-stations. “A 1,600 MW generation plant at Bawana and 750 MW at Bamnauli will come up over the next three years. Apart from that, work has been started on plant at Jhajjar in joint venture with NTPC and Haryana,” said Mr. Mehta.

He said energy efficiency programmes and conservation are also being given attention. “The Delhi Energy Efficiency Programme has been launched in collaboration with TERI, and the power sector reforms undertaken have been appreciated at different forums,” he said at the function, which was attended by Delhi Power Minister Haroon Yusuf and Chief Secretary R. Narayanaswami.

And while the Power Department is on a self-congratulatory spree, the past five years have also seen a huge, endless flood of consumer complaints. In April this year, as the city bore the brunt of power cuts extending to more than six hours, Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit directed the discoms to limit the cuts to an hour.

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