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Top officials of Power, Oil Ministries to meet PMO on Gas Price pooling

Top bureaucrats of the power and oil ministries will meet the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday to decide a mechanism to pool prices of domestic gas with imported gas to help 26,000 Mw of stranded power plants. The meeting is likely to decide the contours of the mechanism that will be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval, a senior government official said.

"Oil secretary Saurabh Chnadra, power secretary PK Sinha along with other senior officials of the ministries will meet top officials in the PMO on August 19. The meeting follows internal deliberations on the issue between the two ministries," he said.

The power ministry has proposed to pool prices of imported and domestic gas and supply the fuel to about 10,000 Mw APM (administered price mechanism) gas-based projects at a higher cost. The ministry seeks to subsidise the state distribution companies to keep electricity tariff at INR 5 a unit from such gasbased plants in the current financial year and INR 5.5 a unit in FY16. "The oil ministry has accorded its consent to the issue that will now be put forth before the PMO for consideration," the official said.

Source-On Request