As the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) was disbanded by the virtue of Jammu and Kashmir Re-organization Act on August 5, 2019, the LG administration of J&K is in favour of constituting a separate regulatory body for the Union Territory, official sources revealed.
A senior Power Department official informed Greater Kashmirthat during a recent meeting in Jammu, there was “unanimity on constitution ofseparate Electricity Regulatory Commission for J&K given its largegeographical area.”
“Though UTs have Joint Electricity Regulatory Commissions inIndia, but given the fact that Jammu and Kashmir was a State till last year,joint regulatory commission may not be able to do justice with the concerns ofboth parties i.e. stakeholders and the government, therefore administration isfavouring a separate regulatory panel in J&K under Central ElectricityRegulatory Act,” said an official who was part of the meeting chaired byCommissioner Secretary Power.
Jammu and Kashmir Power Trading Corporation in August 2019mulled a proposal to hike power tariffs across various segments by over 22percent. However the proposal was stonewalled after the SERC was disbanded.
Chief Engineer Jammu and Kashmir Power Trading CorporationLimited, Er Muhammad Yusuf said, “There has been no revision of power tariffsin last four years as a consequence of which we had filed a petition in SERCfor power tariff revision. But that petition became infructuous after SERC wasdisbanded, now we are waiting for the administration’s direction where to filenew petition.”
Officials say there is ambiguity about the process to filepetition for seeking revision in power tariff as per provisions of CentralElectricity Regulatory Act.
Official figures reveal that the government is currentlyspending Rs 21.07 crore per day on power purchases from power corporations tomeet the power demand in J&K.
Ironically, though Jammu and Kashmir has huge potential inhydro power generation, yet Kashmir is facing power outages leading to economiclosses as well as putting in agony local populace particularly during thewinter.
According to official figures, the estimated hydro powerpotential of J&K is 20,000 Megawatts (MW), of which about 16475 MW havebeen identified. This comprises 11283 MW in Chenab basin, 3084 MW in Jhelumbasin, 500 MW in Ravi Basin and 1608 MW in Indus basin. Out of the identifiedpotential, only 3263.46MW i.e. 20% has been exploited until now which comprises1211.96 MW in State Sector, 2009 MW in Central Sector and 42.5 MW in privatesector.