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How AAP plans free electricity in Goa –correct meter defects, cut out lobbyists

New Delhi: If voted to power in the Goa Assembly elections 2022, the Aam Aadmi Party will rectify meter defects and power theft at first followed by reducing lobbying in Discoms, a senior official in the Power Department of the Delhi government said.

Earlier in the week, Delhi Power Minister Satyendra Jain and his Goa counterpart Nilesh Cabral engaged in a discussion on AAP's promise of free electricity up to 300 units if it emerges victorious in the 2022 Assembly polls there.

The party has pre-planned its immediate moves in the power sector, provided it is able to form government there. "Right after forming the government in 2015, rigorous CAG audits of Discoms and rectifying meter defects to reduce power theft was the first step," a senior official aware of the intricacies of the matter told Millennium Post.

If power theft and power loss are removed systematically and permanently, the state will increase its supply organically, the official said, pointing out what had happened in the Capital when the AAP government swung into action.

A similar pattern may be followed if the party manages to get a majority in Goa in 2022, with resources already being poured into fervently towards election efforts. In addition, the Aam Aadmi Party also plans to open the market to Discom competition, which it insists will efficiently remove the lobbying that may be going on currently.

During the debate which took place in Panaji last week, Nilesh Cabral claimed that free power which is being promised by AAP puts a huge burden on the state exchequer. He had even stated that the current Goa government will not provide free electricity but that it will continue to supply it at highly subsidised rates.

A second official in the Delhi power department explained that in the Capital when the AAP government came to power it started off with a short-run subsidy, which did not go to the power discoms, but to Delhi Transco, which is the State Transmission Utility (STU) of Delhi - leaving the money with the government and within the power sector.

The lack of funds at Transco's disposal was one of the main reasons behind frequent power outages in the state, another official said, adding that troubleshooting this was a key reason for fewer power cuts in the Capital over the years.

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