The Hindu : Licence needed to supply power: KERC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 23, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Licence needed to supply power: KERC

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JAN. 22. The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) today said that Jindal Thermal Power Company Ltd. (JTPCL) had to get a distribution licence to sell power using its dedicated lines and network to a group of consumers.

JTPCL had approached the KERC seeking exemption from holding a licence to supply power to Bhuwalka Pipes (BP), Karignur Iron and Steel Company (KISC), and Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd. (JVSL), all in Bellary district where it is also situated.

The first two has ancillary units there while JVSL has a pump house. JTPCL wanted to supply power to Bhuwalka Pipes and Karignur Iron and Steel Company using its own transmission lines. It also wanted to supply power to the pump house using Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) transmission lines after paying wheeling charges. This, JTPCL said, was possible under the new Electricity Act, 2003.

But KPTCL said this would harm its own power purchase agreement (PPA) with JTPCL. Besides, KPTCL and Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company were ready to supply power to the ancillary units. Further, if JTPCL was allowed to supply power to high-tension industries, it would hurt KPTCL's revenue and "cut the extent of cross-subsidy provided by the KERC tariff order", it said.

The KERC concluded that even if JTPCL wanted to supply power to a group of consumers with its own lines and network, it would still come under Part IV of the new Electricity Act and require a distribution licence. It added that JTPCL would not be able to use KPTCL's transmission lines to wheel energy to the pump house.

Hotel Leelaventure, owners of Leela Palace on Airport Road, wanted to draw power from Bhoruka Power Corporation (BPC) using the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company network. They said this was possible under the new Electricity Act, 2003.

But the KERC in its order pointed out that if commercial units went out of the grid, cross-subsidisation would be imbalanced and licensees (like KPTCL) would be hurt financially. Though the Act allowed open access to the transmission and distribution networks of the licensees, such access could be granted only after the KERC framed regulations for it. Till those regulations were ready, BPC would not be able to supply power to Leelaventure, the order said.

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