The Gujarat government on Thursday informed the Assembly that it has purchased electricity worth Rs 40,634 crore from different power generation firms in the last two years.
Responding to a set of questions raised by Congress MLAs, state energy minister Kanubhai Desai said Rs 20,898 crore was paid to 804 firms, mostly renewable energy projects, in 2022 while Rs 19,736 crore was paid in 2023 to 919 firms towards the purchase of electricity.
In 2022, the average cost was Rs 5.25 per unit while it was Rs 4.75 in 2023, he added.
Congress Legislature Party leader Amit Chavda and senior Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar confronted Desai over the issue and sought to know why private firms are given preference over state-run energy generation firms.
