Public hearing on AP's Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station expansion project tomorrow...

 

The public hearing on the proposed expansion of Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS) scheduled to be held on Friday is going to give some tense moments for officials and engineers of AP Power Generation Corporation Limited (AP-GENCO) and NTTPS as several villages have passed resolutions against the project fearing a spurt in environmental pollution and represented their grievances to the District Collector M. Raghunandana Rao and Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) demanding that the project should be stalled.

The APPCB was to conduct the public hearing in September last but had to postpone it due to protests against bifurcation of the State.

The NTTPS has six units of 210 MW each and one 500-MW unit and it is the proposed expansion of its capacity by 800 MW that has stirred the Hornet’s nest in its conceptual stage itself. The proposed unit is coal-based and its requirement is 3.95 MTPA to be sourced from Madhya Pradesh and its capital cost was pegged at nearly Rs.5,290 crore.

The people of Guntupalli, Kethanakonda, Kotikalapudi and other villages situated in close proximity to the power plant have resolved in their meetings to oppose the expansion project on the ground that it will aggravate pollution, and dismissed the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) made by Hyderabad - based Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL) as a farce.

Their argument is that the scientists and engineers who made the field studies commissioned by REEL presented a distorted picture of the actual situation prevalent in their villages and that the huge quantities of fly-ash spewed into the air have been damaging crops in more than 5,000 acres and the new unit will only make matters worse. Besides, the ash-pond is blamed for contamination of groundwater.

Obtaining public consent on Friday is going to be an uphill task as people are upset with the Government’s alleged negligence in addressing their concerns.

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AP Discoms propose ‘shocking’ tariff hike...

 

The Andhra Pradesh power distribution companies are proposing another power tariff hike with effect from April next year. If the hike is cleared by the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC), Kiran Kumar Reddy will go down in history as one chief minister who hiked electricity tariffs thrice in three years.

Sources said stung by APERC's refusal to allow them to levy fuel surcharge adjustment ( FSA) from customers, the discoms are preparing another round of tariff hike to the tune of Rs 8,488 crore. If the state government offers similar amount of subsidy that it had extended last financial year, the burden on the power consumers would be around Rs 2,200 crore, which would mean a hike of about 10%. For the current financial year, despite a subsidy of Rs 5,530 crore extended by the state, the discoms passed on the burden of Rs 6,500 crore on the consumers which resulted in a 27.8 % hike in tariff.

APTransco chairman and managing director Suresh Chanda submitted the revenue requirement proposals related to transmission of power to the APERC on Saturday. Discoms, which were supposed to have submitted their proposals to APERC by November 30 had sought an extension of one month. They have been given time until December 10. "Discoms will present their proposals by this weekend," said a senior official in the energy department.

According to sources, tariff hike for the next year is likely to be between 10 to 27% for different categories. However, this will be finalized by APERC after it holds public hearings in January 2014.

Although discoms have indicated Rs 11,600-crore revenue gap for the year 2014-15 , the utilities were asked to prune some of their expansion projects to reduce the overall revenue gap. The state government's nonpayment of full subsidy amount to Discoms for supplying free power for agriculture constitutes a major deficit. Consequently , the total losses of the four discoms have now touched an all-time high of Rs 27,000 crore.

AP Generation Corporation (APGenco) also asked for a price revision for the power supplied from its thermal and hydel stations. State owned APGenco supplies more than 60% power to the state at the cost plus method thus reducing the burden on the state exchequer. For the years 2014-19 , APGenco requested APERC a 4% tariff hike citing rising fuel and maintenance costs.

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AP Genco Asks ERC to Hike Tariff by 4 p.c....

 

APGenco wanted four per cent escalation in its tariff for the years 2009-14. APGenco’s tariff is for the power to be supplied by the generation corporation to the Discoms. Though the power purchase agreement pertained to 2009 to 2014, the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) did not convene public hearing all these five years.

The tariff is about to expire in March next and the APERC held a public hearing here on Friday, a few months before the PPA gets lapsed.

Presenting the Genco’s argument, managing director K Vijayanand wanted the ERC to fix the tariff with four per cent escalation. He said that ERC was allowing 5.72 per cent escalation on operation and maintenance.

Vijayanand further said that the pay revision commitment should be considered while fixing the tariff for 2009-14. However, the Discoms collected the electricity charges from the consumers for the same period. If the Genco’s tariff order was finalised by the ERC, then the over and above tariff collected by Discoms would be collected from consumers in the subsequent bills.

Vijayananda also said that the capital cost of several projects has gone up due to various reasons.  The capital cost was increased against the original estimate for RTPP stage-2, NTTPS-4, KTPP-1, Priyadarshini Jurala, Pochampad and others. The cost escalation should also be taken into consideration.

Raising objections to this, farmers’ leader Cherukuri Venugopala Rao demanded that those who lost lands for the construction of thermal power stations should be given jobs. He alleged that the thermal power stations were not following the guidelines and fly ash became a major problem.

Power expert Venugopal said that it was ridiculous to conduct a public hearing on the tariff for 2009-14 now. The tariff order should not be fixed for five years and it should be fixed for 35 years as per the PPAs. He wanted the government to accord priority for the APGenco in allotting fuel and also sanctioning new projects. The APERC would announce its tariff order soon.

NEW TARIFF: Meanwhile, the APERC extended the time for Discoms to file ARRs before December 10. The Discoms will file ARRs every year to fix the retail tariff to be collected from power consumers. As there was no fuel surcharge adjustment (FSA) now, the tariff may be increased considerably, sources said.

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according to Telangana Power Association, 4000 MW capacity to be installed to avoid severe electricity crunch in the state...

 

Telangana region might face electricity crunch post-bifurcation and around 4,000 mw power generation capacity should be built in the region, said K Raghu, honorary president, Telangana Electricity Employees Welfare Association (TEEWA), at its launch at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram, on Wednesday.

TEEWA has members from APGenco, Transco, APCPDCL and APNPDCL.

A logo with the then Hussain Sagar power plant in the centre and the monthly magazine titled Current were unveiled at the event.

Speaking on the occasion, TRS leader T Harish Rao said chief minister Kiran Kumaer Reddy is spending about Rs 5,000 crore for various projects in Chittoor district, but not looking into the fluoride problem in Nalgonda district.

TJAC chairman M Kodandaram pointed out that some politicians are claiming to have developed Hyderabad. “If that is the case, will they take responsibility for the high dropout rate in the seven districts of Telagana and water problem in Adilabad district?” he asked.

CPI state secretary K Narayana said that the Congress is dividing the Telugu people, instead of the state.

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