Power crisis in Jammu & Kashmir, especially in capital city Srinagar and other winter zones, has assumed grim proportions. Besides creating inconveniences in people’s day to day lives, long power cuts, both scheduled and unscheduled, are impacting economic production across sectors, including industrial production. This situation demands both strategic long term and short term solutions. Jammu & Kashmir’s new economic development and growth vision and journey cannot afford this situation. Reliable supply of electricity is the bedrock of any economic system, and Jammu & Kashmir cannot ignore this fact. There are multiple short and long term steps that need to be taken to address this crisis. Government’s contention is that it is unable to provide round the clock power supply because it cannot afford to buy more electricity in view of the existing gap between cost of power purchase and the revenue generated from the supply. The government has also highlighted the power debt situation. To begin with, J&K has to reduce aggregate transmission and commercial losses of electricity, which are very high. However, despite several measures of reducing those losses, it is curious that those losses continue to remain very high. Therefore, the demands of an independent audit of J&K’s aggregate commercial and technical losses are very pertinent. An audit of aggregate transmission and commercial losses of electricity should help to identify the specific areas where losses are occurring and to develop recommendations for reducing them. That audit would also help in improving the efficiency of existing power generation and distribution systems, reducing theft and non-payment of bills, and improving the accuracy of metering systems across the broad variety of consumers. J&K also needs to reduce the costs of producing and buying power. This could be done by negotiating better contracts with power suppliers, improving the efficiency of power plants and distribution systems, and reducing administrative costs. While J&K government’s contention is that the cost of power here is not high. The fact is that this state has some of the harshest climactic conditions and fewer energy sources. Hydro electric power would remain the main source of energy in Jammu & Kashmir. The state has to provide subsidies to the power sector to help cover the cost of providing electricity to consumers in a foreseeable future. In the long term, J&K has to encourage private investment in the power sector. It is highly critical to create a more attractive environment for private investment in the power sector in J&K by offering tax breaks and other incentives.
