MAPUSA
Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudhin) Dhavlikar on Friday assured that there will be no imminent hike in power tariff and even if the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) recommends a hike, the final decision will rest with the State Cabinet on the quantum of rate hike.
Dhavlikar also said that the government was committed to generate 150 MW of power in the State by 2030.
“There will be no power hike from April 1. The electricity regulatory commission will decide on the quantum of power tariff. In the next six months, we expect a direction from the authority. If it gives a go ahead for increase in power tariff then the State Cabinet will decide on the rate of hike,” Dhavalikar said.
The government has proposed a hike of 6 percent in power tariff for the 2023-24 financial year.
Dhavalikar said that the State government depends on the Centre for its power requirement which comes with a price tag.
“Only 33 MW of power is manufactured in Goa and that is why we have to depend on NTPC for our power requirement,” he said.
The Power Minister further informed that the government will purchase power from the Centre to tide over the shortage during the summer season when power consumption shoots up.
“We have a power purchase agreement with the Centre and will borrow extra power of 65 to 120 MWs, if required. We will buy it as we did last year and the rate will not be much higher this year,” he said.
He also ruled out any load shedding during the hot season.
“The State government is not into power shedding. If current goes off we cannot say its power shedding. Power cuts or disruption can happen for various reasons and we cannot attribute it to load shedding,” Dhavalikar said.
He said people ask for a certain load at the time of a new connection but then gradually increase the load by fixing gadgets such as AC, geyser etc.
