Discom to move HC over power regulator's delays

State-owned power distribution utility, Mahavitaran, has decided to move the Bombay High Court against inordinate delays by the state power regulator, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), in according approval to the tender document prepared by the discom to purchase 2,000Mw of power from the open market.

Speaking to Business standard, a senior official from the state government's energy ministry, said, "As per the provisions of the Electricity Act 2003, tender process is to be completed in 425 days after it was started. However, in our case, this period is going to end on January 2, and we had not yet received a clearance to our bid document from the power regulator."

Maharashtra is already facing an acute power shortage of around 4,500Mw. If the process is delayed further, it will be difficult for the discom to find power. Moreover, it will have to pay a higher price for it, he added.

Elaborating further, he said that a lot of activity was taking place in the power generation sector, and the plants, both in the private and public sectors that are currently at various stages of completion, will start generating power from 2010 to 20111.

"States like Gujarat, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, with permission from their respective power regulators, have already completed the bidding process and contracted little over 8,000Mw of power. Other states too are following suit. Further delay in the process means that we will get only left over power and that too at a higher price, as majority of the power would have been be contracted already," he said.

The discom had also sought permission to invite bids for 4,000Mw but got only permission for for 2,000Mw, he added.