India’s Power Demand Grew 6.5% In Last 3 Years, Piyush Goyal Says
GST regime will have no impact on power rates, Goyal said.
The demand for power in India has grown by 6.5 percent in the last three years and the power generation is also on a continuous rise, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal said on Friday.
“...Nowadays, its 150 GW (gigawatt) against 130 GW of electricity generated in summer months. Overall, we have grown at 6.5 percent in the last three years. This is after huge energy efficiency gains. If the factor is 3 percent of gains, then demand would have been 9.5 percent,” he told reporters in New Delhi.
Captive power generation used to have a problem of coal and was dependent on grid, he said, adding that now, low-captive power generation has shortage of coal, otherwise we would have seen a 10 percent growth.
Goyal also informed about the status of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna, the ambitious scheme of NDA government for rural electrification of 18,452 villages by 2018. The scheme was launched in 2015. “13,500 have been electrified till now and around 3,997 are remaining,” he said.
The ministry had also launched Garv app which provides real time data of all villages of the country and can also track impact analysis.
Taking a dig at the previous Akhilesh Yadav led government in Uttar Pradesh, he said earlier governments could not even assess how many villages were left to be electrified.
He also said that implementation of power projects in Jammu and Kashmir is difficult as losses in electricity is high.The scheme has also not been implemented in naxal affected areas in Odisha and Assam.
Commenting on the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Goyal said the GST regime will have no impact on power rates. “GST regime is designed to help bring down costs all over the country. Coal sector will benefit significantly which would help discoms provide power at affordable rates,” he added.