There will be a freeze, for now, on last year’s decision by Tata Power Company (TPC) to stop electricity supply from April 1 (tomorrow) to the area in this city being fed by Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra), a constituent of the rival Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.
A committee appointed by the state government on the issue had its first meeting today. “The committee has been asked to come out with its recommendations within a fortnight. The state government has meanwhile asked Tata Power to continue to supply power to Reliance Infrastructure,” a senior government official told Business Standard. TPC supplies 500 Mw to R-Infra’s distribution area in Mumbai.
The committee comprises the principal secretaries of Maharashtra’s energy department and the law and judiciary department, the managing director of MahaVitaran, the state power distribution company and the secretary of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The official said the committee would meet TPC officials on Thursday and later do so with R-Infra. Both companies declined to comment. Mumbai has 3.8 million consumers, served by three distribution licencees. Two of these are R-Infra and TPC; the third is BEST, the city’s municipal agency.
TPC says it lacks excess electricity for supplies. It has valid power purchase agreements (PPA)s for 1,000 Mw with BEST and 650 Mw with its own distribution arm for its own distribution area. Besides, an average of 500 customers are switching over to Tata Power every day and an additional 200 Mw has to be used for switchover customers and new customers in the near future, said sources.
R-Infra estimates a requirement of about 1,200 Mw between 2011 and 2014 and about 1,500Mw for the next 10 years upto 2025. R-Infra complaints that in the past it was denied a chance to increase own generation capacity for various reasons.
The Supreme Court had, on May 6 last year, said R-Infra had no legal right to insist on getting supply from TPC’s generation facilities, as there were no PPAs between the two. The court also ruled that Tata Power could not be compelled by the regulatory authorities to supply electricity to other distribution licencees.
Under the Electricity Act of 2003, it is mandatory for a distribution licensee to sign a PPA with a power generation company to protect the interest of the consumer and to ensure power availability in the future.
The growing business rivalry and disputes between the two power companies (belonging to two of the largest corporate houses in the country) and a series of litigations in the past on various issues such as payment for energy charges, payment commitment, standby arrangements for power supply, dispute on licence area and the like are also reasons for Tata Power to snap power for R-Infra, said sources.
