The former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday alleged that the signing of costly power purchase agreements (PPAs) with private firms for a long-term period was the main reason for the power tariff going up sharply in Karnataka.
Speaking in the Assembly on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address to the joint session of the State legislature, the former Chief Minister maintained that various political dispensations had failed to empower the State-owned Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. to increase power generation through new projects, though the KPCL’s power was economical.
Instead, they had favoured costly power from private power generators and signed long-term PPAs with them. In fact, Karnataka had signed agreements with private companies for buying 17,090 million units of power annually, he said.
