CESC in power supply deal with PTC

To cope with the increased demand in the forthcoming festive season which starts next month, RPG group company and power utility CESC Ltd has entered into an agreement with PTC India for power purchase to service peak hour demand.

The agreement which was effected yesterday entails supply of power by PTC for 12 hours a day from 11 am in the morning. Sumantra Banerjee, managing director, CESC, said, "We would not like to comment on the issue but the tie-up was effected to meet demand-supply gap which is expected to widen in the festive season."

This was for the first time that PTC has managed to strike a deal, where a trading company is supplying power directly to an embedded customer of a state power system.

"This has been made possible through open access to the state's system under the enabling provisions of the Electricity Act 2003," stated a company official.

Sources in CESC said the cost of power being supplied to the power utility would be around Rs 2.6 per unit on an average and would generally be peak demand price and would be marginally lower than price offered by West Bengal State Electricity Board. He also said that the company was looking at consuming 50 mw of power daily for the next few months.

"Consumption would vary between 30 mw to 60 mw per day depending on demand," sources said. He also said that the power would be sourced by PTC from Tripura which would be wheeled through the grid to CESC. With a plant load factor as high as 96 per cent, CESC, at present, is not in a position to meet increased demand with improved PLF.

Although it has firmed up expansion plans, it will have to keep buying power from either PTC or West Bengal State Electricity Board until its new 250 mw Budge Budge plant starts generation.

The trading activities undertaken by PTC include long-term trading of power generated from long power projects as well as short-term trading arising as a results of supply and demand mismatches, which inevitably arise in various regions of the country.

Until sometime back, PTC has been buying power from West Bengal, in the off-peak period. West Bengal being a surplus power state in the off-peak period is well placed to supply power, but the state is not equipped to cater to demand during the peak season.