Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday approved a proposal of power utility PSPCL for terminating the power purchase agreement (PPA) with private sector electricity generator GVK due to high cost.

The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (Pspcl) has issued a termination notice to the company, an official statement said.

The development assumes significance as several Punjab Congress leaders, including Navjot Singh Sidhu, have been pressing for scrapping faulty PPAs signed during the previous SAD-BJP regime to provide electricity to people at cheaper rates.

A default notice has been served by the PSPCL to GVK on Saturday for cancellation of the PPA due to high power cost and falling lowest in the merit order, procurement of energy from GVK that had been restricted only within the range of 25 per cent to 30 per cent during most of the times of a year resulting in higher tariff of about Rs 7.52 per unit for the last year, the statement said.

Channi said this step has been taken to safeguard the interests of consumers by way of reducing the burden of costly power.