REDUCING THE SUBSIDY BURDEN Sudheer Pal Singh / New Delhi August 26, 2008, 0:52 IST Companies which use diesel to run their backup generators say they would shift to alternative fuels if the government decides to adopt dual pricing, where these firms would be charged higher and retail customers would continue to get subsidised fuel. Corporations in many states are forced to use their own diesel-powered generators as state electricity boards are unable to supply uninterrupted power due to demand far exceeding electricity generation. Even at the current subsidised price, manufacturing units claim it costs two to three times more to run a diesel-powered genset against what they pay to electricity boards. "If diesel prices go up, we would shift to other fuel options,' said P K Jain, former president of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industries and also the chairman of Gurgaon-based The Malt Company (India) Ltd, which uses diesel gensets to produce captive power. "But if we shift to other fuels, the price of that fuel would go up and ultimately it's the consumer who is going to pay higher,' he added. At present, around 25,000 Mw is generated through captive plants in the country, which is about 17 per cent of India's total installed power generation capacity of 145,000 Mw. A bulk of this captive power