Model code may trip govt's plan to purchase power

MUMBAI: Power nightmares for the state government are just refusing to go away. The state election commission has spiked Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s plan to buy additional power to reduce load-shedding ahead of March 11 zilla parishad polls.

The state had on Tuesday decided to procure 600 mw to partly bridge the 5,700-mw gap in electricity demand. This was to be purchased at a cost of over Rs 1,300 crore from Andhra Pradesh.

Fearing that a failure to meet the growing electricity demand for agriculture may cost it dear in terms of votes in the forthcoming district-level elections, the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress alliance not long ago cleared a proposal to get around 600 mw.

State election commissioner Nand Lal, however, has summoned the energy secretary and cautioned him that the decision may go against the model code of conduct, though there are no objections to the government recovering the cost of additional power from consumers by raising power tariffs.

For this, it needs approval from the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), a power sector regulator. In the event of MERC rejecting a power tariff hike, the government’s decision to pay the power utility from its budget would be a code of conduct violation as it could be seen as an attempt to lure voters. Sources say the government may have to put off its plans to buy additional power till the elections are over.

Meanwhile, MahaVitaran wants the government to sanction around Rs 341 crore per month to buy power from other states. “The electricity would be costlier because it’s being generated with naphtha. We either need MERC clearance to pass on the burden to consumers by raising the tariff or the state’s financial support to pay the bill,” a MahaVitaran official said.