India’s Ministry of Steel has proposed a uniform electricity tariff for steel mills across all states in India, a senior government official said on Thursday, April 6.
The official said that the Ministry of Steel is pursuing the proposal with its counterparts in the government including the Ministry of Power since varied electricity tariffs charged by different state governments in India have created an issue for the steel sector.
Some states like the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh offer discounted electricity tariffs to steel mills and, instead of such discounts being ad hoc, the Indian government will look at convincing various states to have a uniform and lower rate for the steel sector.
The Ministry of Steel has taken a decision to promote the secondary steel sector adopting the US model of ‘melt and manufacture’ given the advantages of energy efficiencies and lower land requirement of the secondary steel sector.
But if the ‘melt and manufacture ‘ model is to be made successful in pushing for more secondary steel mills, uniform and lower electricity costs across the country will be a prerequisite, the official added.