Power worries
The report “Power subsidy for the small user to await CAG discom report: Aam Aadmi Party” (February 13) attributes high power in Delhi to the tariff charged by PSU like NTPC and NHPC to the discoms. The CAG audit may find some discrepancies but these will be, at best, marginal. The power consumption of Delhi is double the national average. The data from the Planning Commission shows that the cost of power in Delhi for the discoms was about R5.38 per unit in FY13. This includes the cost of power and transmission charges. In FY03, the cost of power was R1.42 per unit, which means that the cost of power has gone up by 300% in the past 10 years. However, the hike in tariffs for consumers has been only 65%., the revenue gap for the three discoms in Delhi is R19,505 crore. This revenue gap has to be met by the Delhi government and the discoms show this amount of money as receivables on their books. Consider this: Railways’ average cost of power purchase has shot up from R4.4 per unit in FY10 to R6.45 a unit in FY14. The utilities or discoms buy power at a cost that varies widely between R4 per unit and R9 per unit. The average cost last fiscal was R6.45 a unit. Under the changed power purchase regime, power is cheaper in power-surplus states only. Power supplier prefers to sell electricity to Railways as it pays higher per unit charges compared with households. Also, it buys more power at night, when the demand is typically lower.
MM Gurbaxani
Bangalore
Bet on England
Apropos of the column “World Cup 2015: Australia a fifth time?”, the columnist has hedged his bets better this time, backing the team that even the bookies say is most likely to win. Unilke his earlier column that gave Delhi Assembly to BJP, at least this time the chances of being humbled is much lesser. Australia does seem poised to win, given the squad it has come in with. But even England is more than making up for its lacklustre batting line-up with its impressive line of bowlers, Stuart Broad in particular. We may yet see the Cup go to the country where the gentleman’s game began.
Prahlad Bhasin
Mumbai
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