The minister said that distribution companies will be exempt from supplying 24×7 electricity to agriculture customers.
NEW DELHI: Power minister R K Singh has asked states to supply 24 × 7 power to all households starting April 1 . However, discoms have been exempted from supplying round the clock electricity to agricultural consumers due to lack of adequate metering. This will also prevent exploitation of ground water reserves.
The minister said that distribution companies will be exempt from supplying 24×7 electricity to agriculture customers. As per 24×7 agreements signed with the Centre, discoms are obligated to supply round the clock electricity while the draft tariff policy provides for penalising the firms for load shedding.
“We need to ensure that we live up to the agreement which we signed. Starting April 1, we expect discoms to supply power 24×7. Agriculture consumers will be exempt,” he said at the inauguration of two day meet with state power ministers.
“We will hold you accountable for supplying 24×7 power to all households barring agriculture consumers, where 8-10 hours of power supply is sufficient, as we also have the need to conserve ground water,” Singh said, while addressing the conference of state power ministers in the city today.
Singh also asked the state governments to prepare for the rising demand ahead of summers and assured sufficient coal supply to generate power.
“The sector will not be sustainable unless we collect money for each unit distributed. We also need to shift to prepaid metering system,” he said.
Singh said that while the ministry is committed to achieving India’s climate goals in terms of reducing carbon emissions and adding renewable energy capacity, coal fired plants are ‘here to stay’ for some time.
“The supply of quality power to consumers is a priority for the government. Power generating companies using coal will stay until renewable energy becomes stable,” Singh said.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes
