Private power plants seek Odisha govt’s help to cut water charges

Private power plants of Odisha have asked the state government to provide some relief regarding the charges of water consumption in electricity generation stations. Stating that the water charges in Odisha are higher than in other states, the Association of Power Producers (APP) said that the plants should be billed according to the actual water consumption and not as per the allocated volumes.

Generally, the power plants consume around 60% of the water allocated to them. A 1,050 megawatt (MW) power plant which is allocated 22 million cubic metres/year, consumes around 58% of the allocated quantity and ends up paying Rs 13.3 crore every year against the actual consumption worth Rs 7.7 crore, APP pointed. The industry body also objected against the state’s norm to increase water charges by 10% every year.

“The impact of such regular and frequent increase in water charges does not fall under the ‘Change in Law’ provision and hence the cost has to be borne by the generator, resulting in deteriorating financial viability,” APP said in letters addressed to Odisha’s water minister Raghunandan Das and energy minister Dibya Shankar Mishra. Power plants also want to reduce the late payment surcharge rates from 24% to 12%.

The power plants seek respite on water charges as their utilisation levels fall with the rising share of renewable energy and increasing costs to comply with the environmental norms. Odisha houses private power plants such as Vedanta’s 1,200 MW unit, GMR’s 1,050 Kamalanga station and Jindal India Thermal Power’s 1,200 MW Derang plant. There are around more than 2,000 MW of other captive power plants in the state as well.