NTPC denies discom’s plea, tariffs to go up in Capital

Delhiites, already burdened by increased power bills after the subsidy introduced by the AAP was withdrawn on March 31, are likely to soon see a rise of about 4-5%in their power bills.

Delhiites, already burdened by increased power bills after the subsidy introduced by the AAP was withdrawn on March 31, are likely to soon see a rise of about 4-5%in their power bills.

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is learnt to have turned down a request of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited to surrender power and discontinue procurement from the Delhi government’s economically unviable gas-based stations.

Power discoms BSES Rajdhani Power Limited and BSES Yamuna Power Limited had also written to the Delhi government, asking them to consider shutting down a few units of Badarpur, Rajghat and gas turbine, claiming these were power guzzlers. But this request has also been turned down by the Delhi government.

According to sources in the power department, they have pointed out that their immediate closure was not possible as they were required for the islanding scheme of Delhi in case of a grid collapse.

As per sources, NTPC has written to the Lieutenant Governor and power ministry, informing them that the power stations at Dadri, Badarpur and Rihand had been set up with a purpose to provide power to Delhi and that reallocation of power was not possible.

The discoms had claimed they have arrangements for meeting the summer demand at much lower rates and procuring power from these Delhi power stations will be a costly affair, the burden of which ultimately will have to be passed on to the power consumers.

“Rise in cost of power will happen due to increase in energy charges which is mainly due to the fact that basic coal cost from various mines has gone up by 70%. Any change of allocation, if done as of now, will be against the spirit of capacity addition,” states the letter by NTPC.

Discoms had argued that the cost of power procured from these power stations is higher as compared to the cost of power from other plants.

“We have requested that power produced from these plants be reallocated to needy states for 2014-15 by the ministry of power. This would be in the interest of Delhi consumers,” said Praveer Sinha, chief executive officer and executive director Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited.

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