Date of Submission

4-28-1992

Date of Award

2-28-1993

Institute Name (Publisher)

Indian Statistical Institute

Document Type

Doctoral Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Subject Name

Quantitative Economics

Department

Theoretical Statistics and Mathematics Unit (TSMU-Kolkata)

Supervisor

Sharma, Atul

Abstract (Summary of the Work)

The supply of electricity to consumers in India is governed by the Electricity Supply Act (1948). Under the Act, electricity can be supplied from two sources: (i) licensees - that is, a person or body licensed under the Indian Electricity Act 1910 to supply energy, or a person who has obtained sanction under Section 28 of that Act to engage in the business of supplying energy. (ii) The State Electricity Boards constituted under various State Governments and charged with the general duty of promoting the coordinated development of the generation, supply and distribution of electricity within the State in the most efficient and economical manner with particular reference to such development in areas not for the time being adequately served by any licensee. In common parlance, licensees supplying electricity constitute the private sector. The State Electricity Boards (SEBS) are in the public sector, but under the control of the respective state governments. Besides the above two sup- pliers, there are several large public sector electricity generating units which are directly under the control of the Central government. These Central units, as they are called, comprise mainly the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC), Damodar Valley Cor- poration (DVC) and some others. They have been set up as generating units as they are called, comprise mainly the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC), Damodar Valley Cor- poration (DVC) and some others. They have been set up as generating units with the main purpose of supplying electricity to the SEBS (which are usually in short supply in relation to the demand they face), in turn for distribution to the final consumers of the respective states.It is estimated that by the end of the Seventh Plan (1985 1990), the share of the State Electricity Boards, the Centre and the private sector may be 45662 MW (70%), 16488 MW (25%) and 2673 MW (5%), repectively, in a total installed capacity of about 64823 MW. It is clear that the SEBS along with the Central units take the responsibility of supplying power in the country, and it is the functioning of the two that is important in ensuring the efficient, economical and reliable generation and supply of electricity.But ensuring efficient generation and supply is not without its problems. Since the generation of electricity has to depend on natural resources like coal, oil, gas, and to a lesser extent on enriched uranium, which once depleted are non-renewable, there is a problem of conserving these resources. Generation also takes place from different technologies - which implies that, given the cost of alternative technologies and the issue of conserving these fuels, determin- ing the appropriate technology mix is an important area of research. Then again, huge capital investments for plants have to be made based on ex-ante projections of demand. Since capital is indivisible and generally has a low elas- ticity of substitution, there is also the question of determining long-term as well as least-cost investment. India is a capital-scarce developing country and the available resources are inadequate to meet the growing demand for electricity.

Comments

ProQuest Collection ID: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqm&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:28842968

Control Number

ISILib-TH158

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

http://dspace.isical.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/10263/2146

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