Jammu and Kashmir has long been regarded as India’s hydropower treasure. Endowed with mighty rivers such as the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus and their tributaries, J&K possesses one of the country’s richest renewable energy resources. For decades, experts have recognised that these rivers have the potential to generate thousands of megawatts of clean electricity, making Jammu and Kashmir a vital contributor to India’s energy transition. Yet this extraordinary natural wealth presents a striking paradox. Whenever river flows diminish and hydropower generation declines, J&K grapples with electricity shortages and remains heavily dependent on power imported from the national grid. This contrast between immense resource potential and persistent seasonal shortages raises an important question that deserves thoughtful public discussion that Whose electricity is it, anyway?

The latest development bringing this question into focus is the 260 MW Dulhasti Stage II Hydroelectric Project in Kishtwar. Awarded only in April 2026, the project is still in the earliest stages of construction. The ink on the construction contract has barely dried, yet the electricity it is expected to generate has already been committed for the next forty years. NHPC Limited and Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited have signed a long-term Power Purchase Agreement under which Uttar Pradesh will purchase electricity generated from the project from the date of its commercial operation. Before the first turbine has been installed, before the reservoir has been impounded and before a single unit of electricity has entered the national grid, the future destination of the project’s generation has already been determined.

It is important to recognise that there is nothing unusual or improper about such an arrangement. Long term Power Purchase Agreements are a well-established feature of the electricity sector. They provide financial certainty to project developers, reduce commercial risk and enable banks and financial institutions to finance capital intensive infrastructure projects. Hydroelectric projects require enormous upfront investment and several years of........

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