Decision on extension units challenged
Petition filed before state power regulatory commission
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 7
The Punjab Government’s decision to allow extension units at the Talwandi Sabo and Rajpura thermal plants has been challenged. A petition has been filed before the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC), saying the move is against the interests of the state.

The government had allowed an extension unit of 660 MW at the 3x660 MW Talwandi Sabo thermal plant being developed by Sterlite and an extension unit of 700 MW at the 2x700 MW Rajpura thermal plant being developed by Larsen and Toubro.

The petition, filed by former engineer Gurnek Singh Brar, has said that the government had allowed the developers to set up one more unit after conclusion of the tendering process, award of the project and approval by the PSERC. It claims this post-tender development was not permissible under the Central tariff policy that calls for compulsory bidding.

Moreover, it says the Electricity Act, 2003 does not allow the memorandum of understanding (MoU) route for award of extension units, as has been done in these cases.

The petition has objected to the state’s decision to allow the developer to sell 85 per cent of power from the extension unit.

This, he claims, gives a huge financial benefit to the developer and deprives the state and its consumers of power. It also claims the state has allowed the extension units to generate 5 per cent power at the fuel rate and 10 per cent power from the unit at the bidding rate. The petition claims this is a decision that is to be taken by the regulator and that neither the state nor Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) can decide tariff matters.

Brar claims that while the developer has been given the benefit of setting up the extension unit on an already approved project site and with the advantage of using the common facilities, the PSPCL has been given extremely inadequate benefit in return.

Claiming the tariff parameters of the extension units did not meet the statutory requirements of transparency as contained in the Electricity Act, the petition has urged the regulatory commission to disapprove the same.

CURRENT MATTERS

The government has allowed an extension unit of 660 MW at the Talwandi Sabo thermal plant being developed by Sterlite
It has okayed an extension unit of 700 MW at the Rajpura plant being developed by Larsen and Toubro
Petition says developers have been allowed to set up another unit after conclusion of the tendering process, which is not permissible
Says the decision to allow the developer to sell 85 per cent of power from the extension unit is anti-consumer
Claims that tariff parameters of the extension units don’t meet the statutory requirements