Over 60% of power generated in Gujarat comes from private entities, while state utilities contribute just 26%
In Gujarat, private sector contributes the highest, over 60 percent to the total 27400 MW of power produced in the state, while the contribution of state government owned utilities stands at 26 percent, the lowest when compared to all other states in the country, states a study done by a consumer research organisation.
Of the total installed capacity of 27420 MW in Gujarat (as on March 2014), private power producers contribute 60.4 percent or 16568 MW which is the highest the country. The presence of private producers in states like Punjab is as low as 16 percent, reveals the study conducted by Consumer Education & Research Society (CERS) that has analysed the data sourced from Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Union Ministry of Power.
Even in bigger states like Karnataka (35%), Andhra Pradesh (30%), Madhya Pradesh (27%), Rajasthan (44%), Uttar Pradesh (25%), Tamil Nadu (44%) and Maharashtra (44%), the contribution of private players in power generation capacity is far less when compared to Gujarat.
“The state government did not have the money to go for any expansion since they had over Rs 3000 crore of losses in 2003. So the power sector was opened up for private players. This explains the major role played by the private players in the power sector of Gujarat. Meanwhile, between 2003-14 there is hardly an addition in capacity by state-government owned companies,” said KK Bajaj, an expert on power at CERS.
The study also shows that the contribution of Gujarat government owned power generating companies stands at 26 percent which is the lowest among the 12 states. While Punjab has the highest state government contribution — over 60 percent —, other states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana have over 50 percent of the power being generated by the state-owned utilities.
This study shows that there has been a quantum shift in the power generation scenario in Gujarat in the last one decade. In 2005-06, the contribution of state owned utilities stood at 55 percent of the total installed capacity of 9026 MW in Gujarat. During this period, the contribution of private sector was just 23 percent.
Even if the latest annual report (2012-13) of Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) — the state owned company engaged in the business of bulk purchase and sale of electricity —- tabled in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly a few days ago shows that the quantum of power purchased by GUVNL from private power producers have almost doubled.
For instance, if 13,881 million units of power were purchase from private players in 2011-12, the quantum rose by over 60 percent to 22562 million units in 2012-13. During the same period there has been a 15 percent drop in the quantum of power purchased from state-owned power producers.
Among the 12 states, Maharashtra has the highest installed capacity of 34006 MWs. here the contribution of the private players is 44.5 percent, while the state contribution is 36 percent.
