Not cancellation, but acquiring the PPA’s shall make electricity cheaper in Punjab-PSRF
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
A newly formed forum of the retired power engineers of PSPCL held a press conference at Patiala Media Club and cautioned the state government that cancellation of the power purchase agreements with the private thermal plants may have adverse consequences for the consumers of the state. The electricity tariffs may increase due to higher dependency on procurement of power from the exchange, where the rates are highly volatile and consumers may have to face power cuts next summer. The forum leaders said that none of the political parties are realizing the fact that the real cause for the costlier power in the state is due to privatization of the generation, a policy which needs to be reversed.
Er. Bhupinder Singh, Convenor of the forum while quoting data of the central electricity authority said that, plant load factor of the three private thermal plants has gone down from 64.68 percent during 2018-19 to 54.99 during 2019-20 mainly due to availability of cheaper renewable energy in the grid. The fall in the plant load factor has caused the per unit cost of electricity from these plants to increase from Rs. 4.76 to Rs. 6.08 during same period. To illustrate his point further, he pointed out that the plant load factor of the Goindwal sahib plant reduced from 51.70 percent to 27.68 which made its electricity costlier from Rs. 6.02 to Rs. 9.54 per unit. The plant load factor of the private plants of Punjab is similar to the neighouring states of Haryana (50.79)and Uttar Pradesh (50.81). The corresponding national average is 50.81 percent. PSPCL purchased 44008 million units of electricity in 2018-19 for RS. 18967 cr. at average cost of Rs. 4.31 per unit and 45577 million units in 2019-20 for Rs. 22340 cr. at average cost of Rs. 4.90 per unit.
Er. Onkar Singh Bhambra, Joint Convenor insisted that the only viable solution is that the state should acquire Rajpura andGoindwal Sahib thermal plants, which the respective companies have offered to sell to PSPCL. The use of cheaper coal from own mine shall reduce the variable cost and resultantly the plant load factor shall improve, making electricity cheaper from these plants. The fixed charges shall also get reduced benefitting the consumers of state. He also stressed that electricity theft be curbed with an iron hand and advised rationalization of government levies to give relief to the consumer.
Not cancellation, but acquiring the PPA’s shall make electricity cheaper in Punjab-PSRF. The forum leaders also opposed the privatization of the distribution, proposed in the new electricity act which shall, on one hand, make electricity costlier and also deteriorate the quality of supply to the rural areas.
September 29,2021
