Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 27

Two days after Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh asked the Finance Department to release Rs 500 crore to “power-surplus” Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to buy electricity from outside the state, if the need be, questions are being raised at power purchase agreements (PPA). Power experts and the PSEB Engineers’ Association have already demanded a review of the faulty PPAs that are financially bleeding Punjab.

No penalty on defaulting pvt plants

As per power purchase agreements, no penalty will be levied if private plant availability is as low as 75 per cent on a yearly basis. This implies that if all seven units at three state private thermal plants don't supply power due to breakdown or any other reason for 91 days straight (including peak paddy season), no penalty shall be imposed.

As per estimates, the PSPCL has so far paid Rs 20,000 crore as fixed charges to three private thermals installed during the SAD-BJP government at Talwandi Sabo, Rajpura and Sri Goindwal Sahib. Of this amount, almost Rs 5,700 crore has been paid without getting any supply. “There is no guarantee that sufficient power will be supplied during summer and paddy season. There is no provision of any penalty in the PPA if they do not supply power throughout the peak summer and paddy season,” said a PSPCL insider.

“The payment of unwarranted fixed charges to private thermal plants is a result of lopsided PPAs premeditated without guarding the interests of the state. These PPAs were architected by bureaucrats and politicians between 2007 and 2009 by not only keeping the technocrats out of the loop, but also completely disregarding the professional advice given by power experts,” said a former PSPCL official, who was part of the initial deliberations.

As per the PPA, no penalty will be levied if private plant availability is as low as 75 per cent on a yearly basis. This implies that if all seven units at the three private thermal plants don’t supply power due to breakdown or any other reason for 91 days straight (including peak paddy season), no penalty shall be imposed, provided “all units remain available for the rest of the year”.

“Further as per PPAs, full fixed charges are payable if the plant availability is 80 per cent as in case of Talwandi Sabo and 85 per cent in case of Rajpura, which means no cut on fixed charges even if all units of Talwandi Sabo remain under breakdown for 71 days continuously and of Rajpura for 55 days,” said VK Gupta, spokesperson, All-India Power Engineers Federation.

The paddy season in Punjab starts from June 10 and the peak power requirement remains consistent for over 50 to 65 days. “No punitive action can be taken against any private thermal plant if they don’t supply power during this period,” he said.

“A unit in Talwandi Sabo has been non-functional due to some technical fault since March and is not likely to start generation before August. Since no power is being supplied from the unit for about 150 days, the PSPCL is paying extra money for purchasing power while also still paying full fixed charges to the Talwandi unit,” said PSPCL insiders.