DELHI: Railways, the country’s largest energy consumer plan to save Rs 3000 crore of its energy bill every year by procuring electricity directly from power generators of its choice.
Railways is targeting a savings of Rs 3,000 crore per year through the open access of electricity, Railway Board Chairman A K Mital said at the Economic Editors’ conference here, reports PTI.
We have got clearances from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand which have given their consent to our proposal of procuring power directly from generators, he said.
Mital further said railways in talks with other states to have their clearances to draw power from these states’ transmission lines.
Rajasthan and Chattisgarh have given an in principal consent and we are in talks with other states, Mital said.
Railways is the largest energy consumer in the country with about 2.8 billion litres of diesel and 17.5 billion units of electricity a year. While the diesel cost is Rs 18,000 crore a year, the power bill is around Rs 12,300 crore.
