BHUBANESWAR: The Grid Corporation of Odisha Limited (Gridco) has informed the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) that there are no takers for the State’s share of power from NTPC’s Barh-II super thermal power station (STPS) in Bihar.
“There has been no response from other States to accept the allocated share of Odisha from Barh-II STPS even after more than one year of Central notification,” Gridco said in its reply to queries raised by the regulatory commission.
The Commission had asked Gridco to explain the need to purchase costly power from thermal power stations of NTPC when power is available at cheaper rates from independent power producers (IPPs) and captive generating plants (CGPs) in the State.
In its annual revenue requirement (ARR) and bulk supply price (BSP) application for 2017-18 financial year, Gridco had projected to purchase 1105.83 million unit (MU) from Barh STPS-II at a cost of 636.90 paise per unit of which the fixed charge is 276.59 paise per unit.
At the same time, Gridco has also planned to trade surplus energy of about 723 MU at 250 paise per unit.
Gridco, the bulk supplier of power to the State, said Odisha’s share from Barh-II is a forced scheduling under minimum technical generation.
“Gridco has no other option but to avail and utilise power from the Central pool in the State under the conditions of less hydro generation,” the company said.
In such difficult situations, Gridco has been left with no other choice but to go for distress sale of power through trading, it maintained.
The company further said it will have to pay penalty of 178 paise per unit under deviation settlement mechanism (DSM) if Odisha’s share from Barh-II is not utilised in the State or sold to other States through trading route. In such a condition, the maximum loss that may be incurred by Gridco could stretch upto 443 paise per unit.
“Hence, the purchase of power from Barh-II is inevitable under forced scheduling and under such a condition, there is no option for Gridco but to sell power at a lower market price,” Gridco said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Power has issued two notifications seeking willingness from other States for drawal of power surrendered by Odisha which includes 418 MW from Barh-I STPS, 166 MW from Barh-II and 30 MW from Muzaffarpur STPS. The Ministry has reallocated 155 MW of Odisha’s share from New Nabi Nagar Stage-I to Uttar Pradesh.