Firms root for liberal power purchase plan

“Ease norms and provide some sops so that we can go in for the Open Access Exchange system to buy power. That way we can run our industries smoothly without power halts. We cannot suffer losses due to non-supply of power,” was what industries urged the government at a recent meeting with CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Though the CM assured them that he would consider their request the government has not given it priority as it knows that if norms are eased, lucrative customers, i.e. industrialists, would go out of their hands.

The industrialists are demanding input credit so that it can be adjusted in product sales through value added tax. “We are buying power from local utilities by paying Rs 7-8 a unit.

We are ready to pay even Rs 15 if the power supply is continuous. For this, the government should give input credit and the norms should be liberal,” Telangana Industrial Forum president Sudhir Reddy said. Small and medium units which consume more than one megawatt are eligible to apply for open access supply.

There is likely to shortfall of 40-45 MU in summer. The government, however, which hoped that the state would turn power surplus in a few years, is not inclined to ease norms.