No more free lunch in power sector: Govt

NEW DELHI: In an endeavour to improve the power scenario in the country, government today said free electricity and cross subsidies in the sector must be done away with as fast as possible.
"Free electricity to any sector, be it agriculture or household should be done away with in fast process while the process of eliminating cross subsidies may be a gradual process," Union Power Secretary R V Shahi said at a meeting organised by Asshocham and India Energy Forum.
Most of the states and State Electricity Boards (SEBs) have started recognising the fact that tariff fixation should be "depoliticised" and regulatory commissions must be given free hand to fix the tariffs, he added.
He also pointed out that various states including Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have set up anti-electricity theft legislations and implementation of such laws started showing positive results in terms of saving electricity.
As part of the ongoing reforms in the power sector, Government yesterday cleared Rs 4000 crore worth projects under Accelerated Power Development Reform Programme, Shahi said at the 55th Annual General Meeting of Indian Eletrical and Electronics Manufacturers'' Association.
Government has asked cement, textiles, paper and pulp and aluminium industry to upgrade their technology in order conserve energy, he said and added that labelling of products depicting their energy consumption would soon be implemented and products bearing it would hit markets in the next six months.
The products which will have to carry labelling include lighting systems, motors, pumps, ACs and refrigerators.