BHUBANESWAR: Vedanta Limited has refused to supply power to Grid Corporation of Odisha Limited (Gridco) for the first quarter of the 2022 from its captive generating plant at Jharsuguda claiming the State has surplus power.Instead of granting relief to Gridco over Vedanta flouting its October 5, 2021 order, the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has come to the rescue of multinational company on the ground that the State power trading utility delayed filing its requisition for power supply by a day.
As per the October 5 order, Gridco should have exercised its option within one month of the order - on or before November 4, 2021 instead of sending its requisition on November 5, 2021. Hearing Gridco’s petition against Vedanta, OERC in its January 25, 2022 order said the former’s notice to the power generator was ineffective because of the one-day delay. “The notice/requisition dated 05.11.2021 issued by the petitioner (Gridco) to respondent no 1-Vedanta which has not been complied with by the latter has been rendered ineffectual,” the OERC order said.
The OERC order, which is self explanatory, read, “Although the above deviation has not been agitated/pointed out by the respondent, the same weighs in the mind of this Commission while taking up the question as to whether there has been defiance or violation of the order or direction issued or whether any compensatory relief is available to be granted to the petitioner.”
Ignoring the opposition of the State government, Gridco and other stakeholders, the OERC converted the Unit-II (600 MW) of Vedanta from IPP to CGP thereby freeing Vedanta from all obligations to supply power to the State under the power purchase agreement (PPA) signed on December 19, 2012.
While converting IPP to CGP, the OERC ordered, “The Unit-II of Vedanta shall normally operate as CGP. If in any quarter, Gridco requires power from Vedanta for State consumption they can avail the same giving three months prior notice to Vedanta and avail the same for a period of at least three months. During that period the CGP will operate as IPP and Gridco will be required to pay fixed cost for the said period in addition to energy charge and other charges.”
The OERC order has compelled Gridco to forego the low-cost Vedanta power of 751 MU at the rate of Rs 2.52 per unit and to bridge the gap, it has to procure the same volume at high cost from NTPC’s Farakka and Kahalgaon power stations at the approved average tariff of Rs 4.69 per unit.
The State utility has to pay excess tariff of Rs 2.17 per unit (Rs 4.69-Rs 2.52) for procuring Vedanta quota power of 751 MUs for January to March 2022 period at an additional cost of Rs 163 crore the burden of which, will be passed on to the consumers of Odisha.