The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pulled up state-owned Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL) for not recovering a loss of Rs 109.07 crore from Reliance Energy (REL).
The loss arose on account of "excessive" fuel consumed during "prolonged" trial runs of Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant (RGTPP) at Hisar, Haryana, CAG said in its report for 2009-10 tabled in Haryana Assembly last week.
"Due to abnormal time taken for trial runs (of Unit-I of Hisar plant), the excess fuel consumption was of the order of Rs 168.23 crore (up to June 2010) against which revenue earned on power sold during trial run was only Rs 59.16 crore, thereby resulting in loss of Rs 109.07 crore," it said.
Observing the additional fuel cost was avoidable, the performance audit of CAG said in the absence of any clause in contract guaranteeing standard consumption during trial runs, loss of Rs 109.07 crore could not be recovered from REL.
However, the management of HPGCL maintained no norms for consumption of fuel for a period prior to commercial operation date had been provided in contract or by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.
But the CAG report said as per the terms of contract, the unit was to be put to commercial operation within 30 days after its synchronisation which had not been achieved, thereby resulting into prolonged trial runs and excessive fuel consumption.
HPGCL awarded the Engineering Procurement and Construction contract for construction of two units of 600 Mw each at Hisar to REL at a cost of Rs 3,775.43 crore in January 2007. The per Mw cost of Rs 3.15 crore for EPC contract was assessed to be the lowest for this project compared with cost of contemporary projects.
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Despite the contract with REL provided for synchronisation of Unit I and II by November 28, 2009 and February 28, 2010, respectively and thereafter starting commercial operation within 30 days after satisfactory trial operation, the Unit I and II were synchronised on February 10, 2010 and July 17, 2010 after a delay of 73 and 138 days, respectively, CAG said.
It further said Unit-I could not be put to commercial operation till July 2010, due to repeated failure in trial operations mainly attributable to tube leakages.
HPGCL during discussion with REL attributed frequent tripping to long length of economiser tubes resulting in vibration and loosening of joints at weak points.
Even as REL assured to take up the matter with the Chinese equipment supplier, Shanghai Electric Corporation, the trial operations were prolonged due to faulty design, report said in its audit findings.
With none of the units getting completed within scheduled time, the loss of expected generation was also discovered at 3,790.08 million units, the report said.