Comments
A senior official-level panel looking into new pricing for domestically-produced gas has submitted its report to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Though there was no official communication on the proposals made by the panel, indications are that new price is likely to hover around $6/unit (gas is measured in million British thermal units).
The report will be considered by a group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before a final call on the price is taken.
The Government is also understood to be considering a ‘pooled price’ of gas for the power sector.
Pooling is deriving an average price for gas produced from all domestic sources.
It will also have an element of imported gas.
Power sector demandThe power sector has been very vocal in stating that any increase over $5/unit of the base price (excluding transmission charges, local taxes and levies, and marketing margins) is unviable for the electricity generators.
According to the power industry, every dollar increase in gas price will result in electricity costs going up by almost 45 paise a unit (kilo-Watt hour).
The BJP Government had committed to announcing a new price for domestic gas by September 30.
On June 25, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs deferred a decision on revising gas prices stating that the matter needs more discussion in public interest.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.