Electricity supply by private producers suffers a jolt in Gujarat

Electricity supply in the state by private power producers fell sharply in the last year to multi-year lows, even as that by state government owned units rose to all-time high, information provided by the state government shows.

Private power producers, including Adani, Tata and Essar, with whom the state government has signed long term power purchase agreements, supplied 24,012 million units (MUs) electricity to the state's power utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) in 2017-18, nearly 25% lower than 31,766 MUs in the previous year.

The information was provided by energy minister Saurabh Patel in reply to an unstarred question by Congress MLA from Jetpur, Sukhram Rathwa.

The reply showed that the private companies had supplied 32,575 MUs of electricity to GUVNL in 2015-16, 32,7373 MUs in 2014-15, and 28,619 MUs in 2013-14.

For 2017-18, power supply by state government-owned electricity companies touched a record high of 26,502 MUs, 36% higher than the previous year's supply of 19,420 MUs.

Power supply by central government-owned entities went up 2% to 24,067 MUs in 2017-18, from 23,609 MUs in 2016-17.

"Power procurement from non-conventional energy sources was 6,356 MUs in 2016-17, and 8,089 MUs in 2017-18," the minister said in the reply.

For the first quarter of the ongoing financial year, state government plants supplied 7,843 MUs, central government-owned units 6,977 MUs, and private producers 3,575 MUs. A total of 2,914 million units of electricity were sourced through non-conventional energy sources, it said further.

The revelation comes even as the opposition Congress accused the state government of promoting private power producers at the cost of its own generation units.

"The Gujarat government is paying thousands of crores to private companies for electricity each year, while its own power plants are being operated at 30-40% capacity. The 1.40 crore power consumers of Gujarat are bearing the brunt of this crony capitalism," state Congress president Manish Doshi, said.

In the reply, the state government said that its units had added 2,078 MW capacity in the last five years, and central government entities 627 MW. Private players did not add any capacity between 2013-14 and 2017-18, it added.
Rs 3K cr power duty waiver

The state government said that electricity duty waiver of an estimated Rs3,081 crore was granted to industrial units in the state in the last five years. Energy minister Saurabh Patel said in reply to a question by Congress MLA Vajesinh Panda that the waiver was granted to all eligible units.