Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, August 11

Around a fortnight after the Chief Minister asked the power corporation to revisit or cancel all faulty PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements), Punjab has managed to relinquish its allocated share of power from Anta, Auraiya and Dadri power stations.

This will pave the way for the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to terminate an agreement with these producers working under the aegis of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The PSPCL had filed a petition seeking permission to relinquish allocated power from Anta, Auraiya and Dadri generating stations of the NTPC in March 2021, which the power regulator had admitted in June 2021. The orders are likely to benefit Punjab by over Rs 115 crore per annum.

In its petition, the PSPCL had claimed from the financial years (FYs) 2013-14 onwards, due to addition of 3,920 MW power from independent power producers within the state, Punjab was having surplus power after meeting the demand from its own sources as well as from external sources tied up under various long-term PPAs. “Under the applicable tariff regulations, despite surrender of allocated share of power from a central sector generating station, the petitioner was still liable to pay fixed/capacity charges of the generating station till the time the said allocation was either formally de-allocated or re-ordered,” the PSPCL claimed in its petition.

As per details, the PSPCL has paid an amount of Rs 128.99 crore for 2018-19 and Rs 115.11 crore for FY 2019-20 against the surrendered power. Thus, continuing allocation of power from the above generating stations was causing undue financial burden on the petitioner and was leading to higher cost of power purchase, which ultimately gets passed on to consumers.

“During FY 2019-20, the petitioner had a surplus of 21,089 million units of power,” reads an excerpt from the petition. “Even upon relinquishment of allocated power from Anta, Auraiya and Dadri generating stations of the respondent, there will be no shortage of power in the state,” it stated.

“In view of the above, the commission allows the present petition to the effect that the PSPCL is permitted to relinquish its allocated share of power from these power stations of the NTPC,” ordered the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Welcoming the decision, CMD PSPCL A Venu Prasad said this would ultimately benefit the consumers as Rs 115 crore saved would be passed on to them. “We are already examining other expensive PPAs bleeding Punjab financially,” he said.

Surplus power from IPPs cited

In its petition, the PSPCL had claimed from the financial years 2013-14 onwards, due to addition of 3,920 MW power from independent power producers (IPPs) within the state, Punjab was having surplus power after meeting the demand from its own sources as well as from external ones tied up under various long-term PPAs.

All stations under NTPC

The PSPCL had filed a petition seeking permission to relinquish allocated power from Anta, Auraiya and Dadri generating stations, working under the aegis of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), in March 2021. The power regulator had admitted the petition in June 2021.