BHUBANESWAR: Senior BJD leader and Khandapara MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik came down heavily on Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) for failing to follow the principle of multi-year tawwwriff (MYT) framework as has been done by regulatory commission at the Centre and other states.
Making his submission before OERC which heard the aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) and tariff applications of State-owned Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) and Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) for 2022-23 in virtual mode, Patnaik said OERC Generation Tariff Regulations-2020 specifies about MYT in pursuance to Section 61(f) of Electricity Act, 2003 and clause 5 of the National Tariff Policy.
“Under the MYT principle, the generation tariff is determined for a period of five years subject to truing up in the next tariff period or in the mid-period as decided by the Commission. CERC and other SERCs of India are following the above principle in determining the tariff whereas OERC is an exception,” Patnaik said.
He said the MYT framework minimises risks for utilities and consumers, promotes efficiency, ensures appropriate reduction of system losses and attracts investments. It brings greater predictability to consumer tariff on the whole by restricting tariff adjustments to known indicators of power purchase prices and inflation indices.
The MYT framework covers capital investments necessary for renovation and modernisation and an incentive framework to share the benefits of efficiency improvement between the utilities and the beneficiaries with reference to revised and specific performance norms to be fixed by the appropriate commission.
In the absence of MYT and truing up, the generation tariff cannot be prudent and realistic as desired by the policy makers while passing the bill for notification of the Electricity Act-2003.While OHPC stated that the ARR has been filed based on the latest available audited accounts, OPGC tried to escape the MYT approach. “As the CERC and all SERCs are following the MYT approach, I urge the Commission to implement the same in the proceeding to determine tariff,” he said. Patnaik is the first sitting MLA of a ruling party to contest the tariff applications of the State-run power utilities.