BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) on Tuesday directed the state-owned Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) to optimise the cost of power generation by improving efficiency of its thermal power plants at Banharpalli in Jharsuguda district.
The commission also directed OPGC to minimise disruption of power generation other than scheduled shutdown for annual maintenance. The corporation had to take emergency shutdown of two units of 210 MW each of IB Thermal Power Station in March 2024 after one of its ash ponds developed cracks triggering a power crisis in the state.
The commission desired further improvement of the annual plant load factor from the current 85 per cent for more availability of power to the state at a cheaper rate.
The regulatory body made these observations during public hearing of OPGC’s petitions for truing up generation tariff for its third and fourth units (2 x 660 MW) of stage-II plant from 2019-20 to 2023-24, and determination of multi-year tariff for five years from 2024-25 to 2028-29. All the four units of OPGC having an installed generating capacity of 1,740 MW are dedicated to the state and meet about one-third of the total demand.
The Grid Corporation of Odisha Limited (GRIDCO) which is having a long-term power purchase agreement with OPGC submitted before the commission that the delay in commissioning the third and fourth unit have escalated the project cost due to time overrun, and the additional cost is pushing up the bulk supply price. The bulk power supplier urged the commission to consider this point while determining the multi-year tariff (MYT).
In his submission, power analyst Ananda Mohapatra urged the commission to provide relief to the consumers while determining the MYT taking into account the public fund used as equity in the capital cost. He requested the commission not to consider the claims like return on equity (RoE) and allow depreciation only on fixed assets worth `5,861.51 crore financed by private capital in the interest of the state.
Tata Power, OPTCL, SLDC and the state government also made their suggestions.