Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL), the Central government-run electricity transmission utility, has decided to cut power supply to Grid Corporation of Orissa (Gridco) by 15 per cent from the midnight of October 22 for a period of six months.
The supply cut order was given by PGCIL because of non-payment of outstanding transmission bills by Gridco, amounting to Rs 12.63 crore.
State-run bulk power purchaser Gridco said it has not paid the bills opposing the new transmission charges policy adopted by PGCIL.
Gridco has been asked to pay Rs 15 crore per month according to the revised transmission tariff, and will have to pay Rs 20 crore a month from January, 2012. This is expected to entail an additional burden of 20 paise per unit on the consumers of the state.
"Earlier we used to pay Rs 10 crore a month. But in the new distance related tariff policy we will pay more while northern and western states will pay less. We have registered our protest before Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) and the matter is pending,” said B P Mahapatra, director (finance and corporate affairs) of Gridco.
The new transmission tariff policy, applicable since July 2011, proposes to collect transmission charges on the basis of distance and the amount of electricity flow to the customer, named as Point of Connection (PoC) charge, replacing older method that was distance neutral, termed as Postage stamp method.
As per the new policy, eastern states, where most of the power generating units are situated, will pay transmission charges at higher rate compared to other parts of the country, who buy power from this region.
The policy was aimed to benefit power producing states, but has actually worked out in the opposite way, the Gridco official argued.
Gridco draws 1,084 Mw power from Central power production pool.
