Dikshit pleads for Central funds for BSES, Tata power
25 Feb 2013 3:03 PM IST
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has made a plea for giving access to private power distribution companies – namely Reliance-owned BSES and Tata Power – to such fundings that are till now only for government undertakings. In a letter to Union Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dikshit has said: ‘The statement and objectives of the Electricity Act, 2003, encourages private sector participation in distribution sector, hence discriminating the distribution sector on the basis of ownership is inappropriate.’
Advocating the case of supposedly loss making private power companies, the Delhi chief minister wrote, ‘Savings generated due to power sector reforms have helped us immensely in meeting our increased welfare measures without in any way accessing financial flows from the Government of India. But since our sources of revenue are limited, we do not have any elbow room left that would allow us to fund the capital requirements of the power sector on our own. We have already released Rs 490 crores as additional equity in two of our three DISCOMs and considering a similar infusion in the third. But since the banking sector has reduced its exposure to the sector, DISCOMs were not able to leverage the Rs 1,000 crores additional equity (our share that of promoters) and raise required amounts for meeting CAPEX needs.’
The letter comes in view of the pressure being brought by DERC at the behest of private power companies (Reliance-owned BSES and Tata Power) to increase tariff. Dikshit wrote, ‘Our regulator (DERC) has issued us a statutory advice indicating that innovative steps to support Delhi DISCOMs are required since it would not be appropriate that tariff hike alone pick up the entire tab.’
Advocating the case of supposedly loss making private power companies, the Delhi chief minister wrote, ‘Savings generated due to power sector reforms have helped us immensely in meeting our increased welfare measures without in any way accessing financial flows from the Government of India. But since our sources of revenue are limited, we do not have any elbow room left that would allow us to fund the capital requirements of the power sector on our own. We have already released Rs 490 crores as additional equity in two of our three DISCOMs and considering a similar infusion in the third. But since the banking sector has reduced its exposure to the sector, DISCOMs were not able to leverage the Rs 1,000 crores additional equity (our share that of promoters) and raise required amounts for meeting CAPEX needs.’
The letter comes in view of the pressure being brought by DERC at the behest of private power companies (Reliance-owned BSES and Tata Power) to increase tariff. Dikshit wrote, ‘Our regulator (DERC) has issued us a statutory advice indicating that innovative steps to support Delhi DISCOMs are required since it would not be appropriate that tariff hike alone pick up the entire tab.’
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