Union power minister RK Singh has requested the finance commission for Rs 3-lakh-crore support over a five-year period for the new power sector scheme that will be implemented to reform the sector, the government said. This new scheme, which will amalgamate the existing ones, would focus on steps to reduce losses of discoms, separate feeders for agricultural electricity supply and installation of smart prepaid meters.
The proposal was made in the meeting held Friday between the members of the finance commission and power ministry officials about reforms of the electricity sector in the states. Singh said the borrowing limits of the state governments under the FRBM Act is needed to be recalibrated to take these liabilities of the state-owned discoms into account, which is likely to make the states more responsible and will also bring financial transparency.
