ALLAHABAD: Power engineers of UP have helped Arvind Kejriwal ‘resolve’ the ‘power tariff crisis’ of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). They have forwarded a plan to AAP which would reduce power tariff in Delhi by half, providing the party with required wherewithal to fulfill one of its major poll promises.

Secretary general of the All India Engineer’s Federation Shailendra Dubey, who is working as technical advisor to Kejriwal, said, “We have chalked out a methodology in collaboration with Arvind Kejriwal which would enable the AAP government to bring down power tariff in Delhi to Rs 4.65 paise per unit or Rs 3.95 paise per unit.” Refusing to elaborate further, he said that it would soon be made public by Kejriwal and his team.

Vice-president of State Engineer’s Association Mohd Firoz said that a team of engineers had been working tirelessly on the project for the last seven days even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAM) officially conducted a ‘referendum’ to buy time.

Mohd Firoz, who was a part of the marathon exercise with Kejriwal, said “If everything goes as per calculations worked out with Kejriwal, Delhites would be getting electricity at an unexpectedly low rate of Rs 4.65 per unit on the higher side. However, if the Kejriwal government wants to go one step ahead on this populist measure, then power tariff may come down to Rs 3.95 per unit which is less than half of the existing rate of Rs 8 per unit.”

He added, “Contrary to the claims that reduction in power tariff would drain the state exchequer, the state of Delhi would in fact earn additional revenue by selling surplus power to other states at higher rates. To understand the nitty-gritty of the formula, we need to draw a comparison between UP and Delhi. Incidentally, along with Dubey we too adopted the standard yardstick to help Kejriwal fulfill his poll promise.”

Firoz said that while UP with a population of more than 20 crore has an average demand of 13,000 MW per month, Delhi with a much lower population has a demand ranging between 5,500 MW and 6,000 MW per month. In UP, the State Power Corporation purchases 13,000 MW from hydro power projects at the rate of 53 paise per unit and at the rate of Rs 2.35 per unit from thermal power projects. In addition, the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) purchases power from National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at the rate of Rs 3.20 per unit.

The shortfall of additional demand of 2,500 MW in UP is met by buying electricity from other sources at the rate of Rs 5.50 to Rs 6 per unit. Despite this UPPCL supplies electricity to consumers at the rate of Rs 3.95 paise per unit in the state.” “On the contrary, in order to meet its demand of 5,500 to 6,000 MW per month, the Delhi government purchases electricity from Bhakhra hydro power project at the rate of 30 paise per unit and from thermal plants at Rs 2.19 paise per unit and lastly from NTPC at the rate of Rs 2.35 paise per unit.

In addition, Delhi receives additional quota of electricity as pool share from other states which is more than sufficient to meet it’s existing demand and spare some for selling it to other states at higher rates,” he added.

He added that private companies supplying electricity to Delhi residents also adopted the same policy to meet the demand, but inflated the balance-sheet to justify the exorbitant hike in power tariff, a point which was cited as a major reason by Delhi State Power Regulatory Commission to turn down the proposal of hike in power tariff. However, the then Congress government brought in an Ordinance to push through the proposal and enforce it in Delhi. Besides, factors like in-house purchase of spare parts at less rates and subsequently inflating the amount on papers were also grounds on which private companies along with the Congress government claimed right to hike the power tariff.

As of now, Firoz who assisted Dubey working as technical advisor to Kejriwal, claimed that by working on the above methodology, upcoming AAP government is set to bring down the power tariff in Delhi to Rs 4.65 paise per unit and maybe Rs 3.95 paise per unit, a fact which would soon be disclosed before the public by Kejriwal and his team. However, certainly the power engineers from UP have resolved the 'power tariff crisis' of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

