The Hindu : Transco revises tariff for power purchase

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Transco revises tariff for power purchase

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MARCH 22. The tariff payable by AP Transco on power purchases from non-conventional energy sources (NES) with effect from April 1 has been finalised at an average of Rs 2.60 to Rs 2.90 per unit, compared with the current rate of Rs 3.48 and to Rs 2.30 proposed by the utility.

The State Electricity Regulatory Commission here issued orders to this effect today following a public hearing held on the issue three days ago.

The new tariff does not, however, fully free the consumers from the additional burden they have to bear to encourage these power stations as per the Government of India policy.

The order, elucidated at a press conference by the commission secretary, S. Suryaprakasa Rao, and its director, V. Sivaprasada Rao, ended the uniform rate allowed to all NES plants regardless of their source material such as water, wind, bagasse, biogas, etc. and introduced different rates for different categories after dividing them into these categories. The rate applicable to windmills is a high of Rs 3.37 per unit and that for bagasse units is a low of Rs 2.73. It is Rs 2.88 per unit for biomass and industrial waste units. The mini-hydel plants have been allowed Rs 2.99 with the inclusion of 39 paise per unit to go as "royalty" to a third agency, say Irrigation Department/Government which owns the water bodies.

For plants based on municipal waste, the rate has been fixed at Rs 3.37 per unit but with a special provision for escalation by 5 per cent per year. They said all these rates would be valid till April 1, 2009 when they would be reviewed, recalling that the Power Purchase Agreements with these and conventional plants were signed for 20 years normally. The new rates, it is stated, will reduce the burden on consumers by Rs 120 crores, they claimed. The total purchases from NESs last year was 1,200 million units and for this year, it would be 1,850 mu.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh