Raising strong objection to non-scheduling of power generated by some hydel power stations, the Telangana government has complained to Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) against Andhra Pradesh government.
Two Discoms of Telangana, Central and Northern, have submitted a written complaint against APGenco alleging that it is not giving power to Telangana. The Discoms have charged APGenco with hiding information about power generated at hydel stations by not scheduling the power generation, particularly from lower Sileru hydel station located on the borders of Khammam and Visakhapatnam.
Citing Section 33 of the Electricity Act, the Telangana government demanded action against APGenco under Sections 142 and 33 (5) of the Act. It also requested ERC to impose penalty on AP government for “not following” directions of Southern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (SRLDC).
The Telangana Discoms asked ERC to notify all the existing PPAs so that there would not be any confusion about their continuation and sharing of power between two states.
Recently, seven mandals of Khammam district were transferred to AP after the Centre cleared the proposal initiated during the UPA government. As part of the transfer, the Lower Sileru hydel power plant has also been transferred to AP.
But as part of the long term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), AP has to supply 100 MW to Telangana every day. To negate this, AP government, it was alleged, has stopped generation from this unit or not scheduled the power generated there.
“By not showing the Lower Sileru power project in the daily scheduling, the AP government has deprived Telangana of its rightful share of about 100 MW. The SRLDC has also not been informed about the power generation from this plant,” said Discoms in their complaint to ERC.
The Sileru hydel power complex has three power stations with over 725 MW power generation capacity. The Upper Sileru power station can generate 240 MW and Donkarai station 25 MW and Lower Sileru unit another 460 MW. Since the power station was constructed in a joint venture with Odisha government, the AP government is giving 30% of total power to that state. Of the remaining 70%, AP and Telangana have to share power in the ratio decided by the Centre.
“Even SRLDC has asked APGenco to provide scheduling of hydel units located in AP. Due to lack of information, SRLDC could not distribute the available power, leading to confusion,” Telangana state energy principal secretary Suresh Chanda told TOI.
The two discoms of Telangana also requested ERC to make its stand clear on PPAs. Citing previous examples wherein power tariff hike proposals were processed based on existing PPAs, the Central Discom demanded that doubts over validity of PPAs be cleared.
Courtesy: Times of India