Karnataka working with Escoms on cross-subsidy surcharge, wheeling charges

Karnataka has attracted 95 investment proposals amounting to ₹1,54,937 crore.

With this achievement, the Ministry of Industry and Internal Trade Promotion (DPIT) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has ranked the State first in the country in terms of investment proposals, said State Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar. Speaking at a Webinar on “Procurement of Cheaper Electricity for industries through open access in Karnataka” organised by Assocham, Shettar said between August 2019 and December 2020, the State High-Level Committee and the State High-Level Single Window Clearance Committee approved the 410 new projects and these proposals are to bring in combined investment of ₹82,015 crore into the State, which would create 2,27,147 jobs.

Shettar said, “Karnataka is a self-reliant State in power supply and the demand for electricity is increasing for sectors like EVs and data centres. There are opportunities for improvement in the State’s energy sector. We are studying the usage of electricity in the industrial sector,” he explained.

He added that Karnataka was working with Escoms and had identified things like cross-subsidy surcharge and wheeling charges. “Currently, we rely on grids for uninterrupted power supply and this is not possible due to technical problems. This can be overcome by creating a new battery storage facility near the grids,” he added.

Industries and Commerce Department Principal Secretary Gaurav Gupta, Industries Commissioner Gunjan Krishna and Udyog Mitra Managing Director Revanna Gowda were present at the meeting.