Status paper on transformers in UT sought

Move comes in the wake of pressure from politicians and NGOs over undeclared powercuts and variations in supply
Status paper on transformers in UT sought

The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for Goa and Union Territories on Wednesday directed the electricity department to bring out a status paper on the transformers in operation in the UT.

V K Garg, chairman of the JERC, issued the direction at a public hearing convened to receive suggestions on the tariff at which energy could be purchased from a solar plant that was to be set up by a private firm in Karaikal.

Garg also directed top department officials to engage a consultant to study the state of transformers in the UT and furnish  details to the consumers, he said, and added that its aim would be to show which ones were overloaded/ under-loaded.

 The JERC chairman’s direction came at the persistence of political party workers and NGO representatives, who aired a grievance as consumers about the undeclared power cut and variations in power supply, especially in the rural areas.

Garg also directed the officials to upload all the details, like the tariffs and tendering process on the electricity department’s website without fail.

Superintending engineer with electricity department Mathivanan explained that the transmission was affected by extreme heat conditions and a cable fault, which would be rectified within a few days.

He also informed that steps had been taken to replace 126 distribution transformers that had been damaged after the cyclone Thane.

On the fixation of tariff of the solar energy, Garg said it was necessary to encourage the renewable energy sources as fossil fuels were on the decline.

Pankaj Kumar Jha, project director of the renewable energy agency of Puducherry, told the commission that his agency had submitted  a proposal for a tariff in 2010 for purchasing solar energy produced from the proposed one megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant by a private firm in Karaikal.

The private firm, Saheli Exports (Private) Limited demanded that the tariff be fixed at `20.50 per unit. The JERC also has take into consideration the tariff of `7.49, the proposed rate during a recent tender and the tariff of `10.39 fixed by the Central Electricity Authority (for solar power plants above 5 MW) before fixing tariff for purchasing energy form the Karaikal plant, which is to be set up.

The electricity department of Puducherry, after discounting the Generation Based Incentive (GBI), may have to purchase power around `5.50 per unit.

Anything above, if fixed by JERC, may have to be received as subsidies so that the consumers are not burdened.

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