The Bharatiya Janata Party has said that the Pradesh Congress Committee president is unaware of the compulsion of fixed charge on gas-based production plants in the State which is thanks to the Congress. BJP State president Mahendra Bhatt said that the PCC president should study the works done during the tenures of the past Congress governments. The Uttarakhand gas based energy production policy, 2011 was issued by the State government in February 2011, he said.
Bhatt said that according to the said policy and the then Congress government cabinet decision a government order was issued in June 2016 as per which a long term contract of 25 years was directed with the gas based plants in the State.As per the Electricity Act 2003, the central of state electricity regulatory commissions fix the tarrifs uniformly on the same principle across the nation. According to this, the tarrif for any power project is in two parts- fixed charge/capacity charge and energy/variable charge. The fixed charge is payable not only on gas based plants but on all types of production plants and hydro power projects with whom long term contracts have been entered into for power supply. Bhatt said that for the past one year, international factors have affected the availability of gas and increased its rates due to which its commercial viability has also been affected.
