Planning Commission member for separate tariff during peak hour

NEW DELHI: In order to encourage judicious use of power, the government should look at separate tariff for electricity consumed during peak hours, Planning Commission member B K Chaturvedi said today.

"There should be a difference in peak hour (time when usage of electricity is maximum) and off peak hour tariff. Unless there is a difference people will not use electricity judiciously," Chaturvedi said while addressing a seminar here.

It may be recalled that Planning Commission has been pitching for a higher tariff during peak hour. It is of the view that such move would reduce losses of the distribution utilities.

India's estimated electricity distribution losses touched about Rs 70,000 crore in 2010-11.

Chaturvedi said the demand for electricity grows at a marginally higher rate than the growth in the economy.

He also said the government can achieve the target of adding 88,000 MW generation capacity by 2017 if the fuel problem is addressed, which in turn would encourage more participation from the private companies.

"We are trying to figure out how we can meet the requirement of fuel for achieving this capacity addition target," he said.

The government has projected a power demand of 9 lakh MW by 2030 in the country.

Chaturvedi said the government should also focus on rural areas as there is huge demand for power in those areas, especially in states like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

The current installed power generation capacity of the country is over 2.10 lakh MW and the government aims to add another 88,000 MW to this capacity by March, 2017.