GEB may consider hiking power tariff

VADODARA, June 2: The Union Budget may force the Gujarat Electricity Board to shelve its decision to import coal and even consider hiking po...

VADODARA, June 2: The Union Budget may force the Gujarat Electricity Board to shelve its decision to import coal and even consider hiking power tariff. Various measures of the 1998-99 Budget are expected to impose an additional burden of Rs 100 crore on the Board.

The eight per cent levy imposed on imported goods by the Budget would cause the Board to review its decision to import coal, GEB Member (Administration) S K Nanda said, adding that it had been decided recently to procure superior quality coal from abroad on an experimental basis.

Among other things, the comparative rates of local and imported coal would have to be worked out and studied, before decisions were made on imports, he said. The freight hike would add Rs 20 crores to the GEB’s bills if it was to continue bringing in 20,000 tonnes of coal from Madhya Pradesh every month, he said.

When asked if the GEB would hike the tariff, Nanda said the Board would deliberate on this in its next meeting. He added that the Board would thrash out the avenues to meet the additional expenditure as well as to increase its income. The customs duty on imported transformers and conductors supplied by private firms to GEB will also add to its burden severely.

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