BHUBANESWAR: Energy Minister Susanta Singh blamed the Centre for making consumers of the State pay more for power generated by NTPC.
A day after Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accused the State Government for delaying clearances for NTPC’s Talcher Thermal Power Project, Singh said issues related to de-allocation of power from some of the NTPC plants located outside the State and substitution with power allocation from NTPC power stations located in Odisha should be addressed in a time-bound manner.
In a letter to Union Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy RK Singh, Susanta stated that NTPC is charging `3.4 per unit which is 0.70 paise higher than the cost indicated during the review meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Aditya Padhi on July 28.
“The NTPC should also confirm evacuation of power from the Talcher project through State Transmission Network so that Odisha is not subjected to payment of very high transmission charges of PGCIL which are likely to be in range of 0.60 paise to 0.80 paise per unit when the plant becomes operational,” he said. Odisha has been allocated high cost power from neighbouring States which is likely to be more than `5 per unit, he claimed.
“Though we have been requesting the Ministry of Power to surrender high cost power and its swapping with NTPC power from Kaniha and Talcher, no steps has been taken yet. If the issues are not resolved, Odisha would end up paying nearly `500 crore per annum for the next 25 years for power from NTPC station,” the Minister pointed out.
The enormous financial burden of around `12,000 crore on consumers of the State can be avoided if the Centre agrees to the State’s suggestions. This will also result in a win-win solution for both NTPC and Odisha, facilitating early setting up of Talcher thermal power project (Stage-III), he said.
Responding to the letter of Pradhan to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Susanta said the State Government is pro-actively assisting NTPC in all its projects for which it has been able to set up new thermal power plant at Darlipali in Sundargarh district and proceed on Dulanga coal mine project. Similarly, issues related to NTPC project at Kaniha as well as Talcher have also been dealt with promptly leading to continued optimum utilisation of these plants.