Top

Telangana power staff seek amendment to Bill

Power staff seeks amendment to address the issues arising out of the bifurcation in power sector.
Hyderabad: The Telangana Electricity Employee JAC on Wednesday sought an amendment to the Telangana Bill to address the issues arising out of the proposed bifurcattion in the power sector in Andhra Pradesh.
“The proposed bill does not have any provision for dissolution of the corporations. We have proposed an amendment to incorporate a provision for this and formation of separate corporations for successive states. Since almost all projects have legal issues, the involvment of two states and a single corporation will be difficult from an administrative point of view,” said K. Raghu, coordinator of the Telangana Electricity Employees JAC.
The proposed amendment would include options such as dissolution of power transmission corporation and closure of escrow accounts of private power companies.
Currently, the private power companies have escrow accounts where the payments from the government get deposited.
In all the previous bifurcations, there has been a clear stand on dissolving the existing Transco and Genco. In AP’s case, however, this has not been proposed in the Telangana Bill. This ambiguity may cause problems of management and problems in dealing with pending legal issues.

Meanwhile, even though the existing Power Purchase Agreements will continue in the present form, there is a demand to do away with the escrow accounts of private power producers. “We have proposed an amendment to close the direct payment mechanism of escrow accounts as it escalates the cost of power,” he added., Jan. 1

The Telangana Electricity Employee JAC on Wednesday sought an amendment to the Telangana Bill to address the issues arising out of the proposed bifurcattion in the power sector in Andhra Pradesh.

“The proposed bill does not have any provision for dissolution of the corporations. We have proposed an amendment to incorporate a provision for this and formation of separate corporations for successive states. Since almost all projects have legal issues, the involvment of two states and a single corporation will be difficult from an administrative point of view,” said K. Raghu, coordinator of the Telangana Electricity Employees JAC.

The proposed amendment would include options such as dissolution of power transmission corporation and closure of escrow accounts of private power companies.

Currently, the private power companies have escrow accounts where the payments from the government get deposited.

In all the previous bifurcations, there has been a clear stand on dissolving the existing Transco and Genco. In AP’s case, however, this has not been proposed in the Telangana Bill. This ambiguity may cause problems of management and problems in dealing with pending legal issues.

Meanwhile, even though the existing Power Purchase Agreements will continue in the present form, there is a demand to do away with the escrow accounts of private power producers. “

We have proposed an amendment to close the direct payment mechanism of escrow accounts as it escalates the cost of power,” he added.

( Source : dc )
Next Story