CHENNAI: Electricity and Law Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar has denied reports that the state government had planned to procure electricity at higher rates. His remarks on social media came on Tuesday evening amid criticism from various opposition leaders over the government’s alleged decision to purchase power at exorbitant rates.
The Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited has invited bids to procure 1,000 MW electricity each for December, January and February. The tenders were opened on Tuesday, where power generators quoted prices from Rs 20 to Rs 41.5 per unit.
“We are not going to do any purchase of power for the quoted rates of Rs 37 to Rs 41,” Nirmal Kumar said. “We opened the tender today and several vendors quoted very high prices. Since we have sufficient power to manage for next three months and power is being procured in advance for next summer, these prices are unreasonable.
In the meantime, we will be coming out with medium and long-term tenders for the upcoming 20 years,” he said, adding there won’t be any more gas-based electricity purchase at higher prices and that he has already instructed the cancellation of the tender.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Udhayanidhi Stalin slammed the government over its purported move to purchase power at Rs 41 per unit, alleging that the cost would eventually be passed on to consumers in the form of power tariff.
In a post on social media, Udhayanidhi said, “At a time when Tamil Nadu is at the top in price rise because of the government’s incompetence, they have also increased the price of Aavin milk products in the festive season.”