Central regulator gives relief to Haryana power utilities
CHANDIGARH : In a major relief to the fund-starved state-owned power distribution companies of Haryana, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has ordered that the distribution companies will not be billed for power transmission charges and losses under the point of connection (POC) mechanism for the 400 KV electricity transmission lines from Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Station (IGSPTS) in Jhajjar to Daultabad in Gurugram.
The financial implication of the CERC order entails savings of over ₹300 crore for the power companies but reflects poorly on the functioning of the power utilities. Since July 2011, the power companies had paid about ₹1,120 crore to Power Grid Corporation as transmission charges for this line, which at present, looks unrecoverable.
The POC charging is a methodology of computation and sharing of inter-state transmission system (ISTS) charges and losses among designated ISTS customers. The 1500 MW Indira Gandhi power plant, a central generating station supplies about 693 MW of power each to Haryana and Delhi and balance quantum is allocated to other states.
The Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), which was billing the Haryana power companies for transmission costs had argued that the power allocated by Union power ministry from central generating station is treated as deemed long-term access for sharing of ISTS charges. Therefore, long term access of 693 MW to Haryana from this plant cannot be excluded.
In its May 4 order, the central regulator said in our view, the POSOCO and power grid were raising bills on the basis of the premise that this transmission line is connected to inter-state generating station and therefore Haryana is a deemed long terms access holder corresponding to its share in Indira Gandhi plant.
After considering the hardship faced by Haryana and in the light of the decision of the commission in another petition, relief is granted to the Haryana power companies exempting them from payment of interstate transmission charges and losses, the regulator said.
However, the CERC held that decision shall operate prospectively, thus denying Haryana companies reimbursement of the amount paid to POSOCO. Chairman and managing director of the two power distribution companies, Shatrujeet Kapur, said the CERC decision was a major victory for them. “We will also take recourse to the legal process for realising the reimbursement of the past payments made to POCOSO and power grid,” he said, when asked for a comment on the denial of reimbursement from retrospective effect.
The power companies had argued that this transmission line emanated and terminated within the territory of Haryana and therefore, they cannot be billed for inter-state transmission charges. The companies further said Haryana’s own transmission network was used to evacuate state’s share of power through the Indira Gandhi plant Daulatabad line and no interstate transmission network was used for evacuation of state’s share.