Reliance Infra promoted BSES Limited, a Delhi-based power distribution company (discom), will cancel long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) with six more thermal units. This comes after the discom was allowed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to nix its PPA with Dadri power unit of NTPC.
Senior company executives said BSES is planning to end its PPA with units which are 25 years old and costly.
BSES is in the process of ending the PPA with six thermal power plants namely - Unchahar, Farakka, Auriya gas, Anta, Kahalgaon and Dadri Gas power stations– all of them owned by state-owned power generator NTPC ltd. According to company calculations, these PPAs cost Rs 6 per unit and more to the discom. These plants supply close to 800 Mw power supply to BSES and it will be replaced by renewable energy, said sources.
The discom has estimated that it will save Rs 800 crore by cancelling these PPAs, according to an executive.
“Replacing this expensive power with substantially cheaper green power will lead to savings of around Rs 800 crore per year for Delhi consumers, which amounts to Rs 20,000 crores over a period of 25 years,” he said.
Earlier this month, the CERC allowed BSES to approach the Union power ministry for de-allocating its share of electricity supply from NTPC’s Dadri-I generating station. The plant supplies power at an average cost of Rs 6.50/unit, making it one of the costliest power stations providing electricity to Delhi.
CERC in its tariff regulations-2019 allowed discoms the “first right of refusal” for procuring electricity from power plants older than 25 years. Post this, BSES in November, 2020 sought to stop taking power from Dadri-I generating station. This was approved by the CERC and later by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) as well.
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