Punjab to renegotiate power purchase agreements with pvt firms: CM

The agreements for coal-based plants are in Rajpura, Mansa and Goindwal Sahib being run by Larsen and Toubro, Sterlite Power and GVK group

Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday said his government would renegotiate the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the private firms running the thermal plants in state.

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The agreements for coal-based plants are in Rajpura, Mansa and Goindwal Sahib being run by Larsen and Toubro, Sterlite Power and GVK group.

The CM announced this while addressing the newly elected office-bearers of the Punjab Youth Congress (PYC), saying the agreements were a “fraud on the state and its people”.

Given the shortfall in production by the state-owned power plants at Lehra Mohabbat and Ropar, the CM said his government would work around the existing arrangements with the private players to make the power rates more affordable while ensuring that the peak demand of 13,000 MW is effectively met. The CM had earlier announced to bring a white paper on the PPAs singed during the previous SAD_BJP government.

In the run up to the 2017 assembly elections in Punjab, the Congress party in its manifesto had promised to review the PPAs to bring down power tariff. The party MLAs and ministers were exerting pressure on the government for renegotiating the rates with the private firms.

Last month, PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar and party MPs Partap Bajwa, Manish Tewari, Gurjeet Aujla and Shamsher Singh Dullo also demanded that the agreements be for renegotiated to bring down the power tariff.