APERC public hearing: Farmers oppose power tariff hike…

 

Mild tension prevailed at the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (APERC) public hearing here on Saturday, as representatives of several farmers’ associations and political parties vociferously opposed the power tariff hike mooted by the Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (APSPDCL).

The hearing began with a presentation by APSPDCL Chairman and MD H.Y. Dora, who put forward the achievements of the Southern Discom, along with proposed power tariff hike and steps to be taken for effective power distribution. But, the proceedings had to be adjourned by APERC Chairman V. Bhaskar for more than 30 minutes as the farmers’ association representatives and activities of several political parties raised slogans and refused to calm down. 

YSRC Spokesperson B. Janak Prasad said the failure of the government to ensure supply of coal and natural gas to power projects had forced the Discoms to generate power at a higher cost with imported raw materials. TDP activists also flayed the officials for being unable to curb the transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. Quoting experts’ opinion, they said that Rs.400 crore could be saved by reducing the loss by 1 per cent. Meanwhile, in a statement, CPI (M) State Secretary B.V. Raghavulu said that in last four financial years, the commission had permitted tariff hike to the tune of Rs.12, 605 crore and Fuel Surcharge Adjustment (FSA) for the last five years stood at Rs.12,800 crore. “Due to the proposed hike, the average hike is 28.2 per cent and 23.9 per cent for LT and HT categories,” the statement read.

Members of farmers’ associations demanded that the government provide uninterrupted power at free of cost to ryots in the morning instead of at nights as the latter would serve no purpose.

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200 kWp Rooftop Solar plant commissioned by an Educational Society in Andhra Pradesh

 

A roof top, solar photovoltaic power plant has been commissioned at the Sri Vishnu Educational Society, Bhimavaram Campus in West Godavari district.

The Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh, M. Kamalakar Babu commissioned the plant on Saturday, which has an installed capacity to generate around 3 lakh units per year.

The 200 kWp grid-tied unit has the capacity to produce 820 units per day average. However, in summer, the peak capacity of 1000 units can be generated while during rainy season, the minimum units produced would be around 600 per day. K.V. Vishnu Raju, Chairman of the Educational Society, said the installed project will meet about 10 per cent of the campus power requirement in base case i.e. 10 per cent of energy shall be off settled in the power imported from the grid and diesel generator.

The total project cost is Rs 2.6 crore. Of this, 30 per cent was obtained as grant from the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy as capital subsidy.

The remaining has been funded by the Vishnu Educational Society, he said in a press release.

The break even for the project is four-five years.

The power plant has been designed, supplied, installed and commissioned by Varshini Power Projects, Hyderabad. It is the biggest solar power plant in the district as well as the biggest roof top project under APEPDCL, the release said. Recently, the educational society also installed a solar PV plant on the rooftop of its engineering college in Narsapur, Medak district near Hyderabad.

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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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AP Distribution company gearing up to implement net metering policy for rooftop solar projects...

 

The Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (APSPDCL) is gearing up to implement net metering policy. It is about the mechanism of injecting solar power into the grid by rooftop and small photovoltaic plants and arriving at the net value of power.

After the single-phase consumers were also recently allowed by the Energy Department to avail net metering facility, the ball is now in the court of the power distribution companies (Discoms) to encourage and facilitate tapping of solar energy through rooftop plants and small SPV plants .

Only three-phase consumers were till last month permitted to install bi-directional meters which measure the net value of power. But the condition has since been relaxed allowing single-phase consumers with rooftop systems up to 3 KW capacity also to go for net metering.

The onus to motivate consumers to tap solar energy and export any surplus power to the grid now lies on the Discoms and the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP).

Bi-directional meters

On their part, the Discoms are mandated to certify and inspect the solar rooftop systems along with the metering devices and other paraphernalia at regular intervals while the NREDCAP facilitates payment of subsidy to the consumers registered with it. Installation of high accuracy bi-directional meters which can be tracked on a real-time basis and devices capable of injecting solar power into the grid smoothly without causing fluctuations in the grid frequency are the main things that the APTRANSCO and Discoms have to do.

Disturbances

Disturbances (harmonics) to the grid are common as direct current (solar energy in this case) is converted to alternate current. Insulating the grid from such variations is called ‘island protection’.

The Divisional Engineers (Metering & Protection) play an important role in integrating the solar plants with the grid and they have already been equipped with the necessary skills.

The procedures to be followed in the wake of issuance of the fresh G.O on net metering on October 25 are being circulated to the officers and staff concerned.

An APSPDCL official told The Hindu that the solar power generators and Discoms are under the obligation to comply with all the rules and regulations framed under the Electricity Act, 2003, provisions of tariffs and other general terms and conditions with the approvals of the A.P Electricity Regulatory Commission.

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APERC holds hearing on cross subsidy surcharge...

 

Power distribution companies in the state have asked the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) to review its order of August 13, which made open-access consumers default on payment of cross subsidy, along with additional subsidy, and ask the commission to determine the cross subsidy surcharge on the basis of embedded method followed in the past.

Discoms and open-access consumers presented their arguments on determination of cross subsidy surcharge for 2013-14 before the commission at a public hearing on Friday.

APERC had determined cross subsidy surcharge and additional surcharge, under provision of the Electricity Act 2013, payable by open-access users, falling in the service areas of respective distribution licensees as ‘Nil’ for 2013-14 but said discoms were free to approach the commission afresh if they could assure 100 per cent power supply to all subsidising consumers for at least four months consecutively.

Discoms termed APERC’s conclusion as contrary to the law and the result of the omission of several vital aspects of the matter. Hence the hearing on Friday.

Open-access consumers, who constitute basically industries and commercial establishments and also called subsidising consumers since the cross subsidy paid by them helps in giving power on subsidy to farmers and others, argue that since discoms are not able to assure continuous power supply they need not pay the cross subsidy and additional subsidy. Discoms argue that such an argument is flawed and cross subsidy surcharge is a compensatory surcharge.

Telengana Electricity Employees JAC convener Raghu said there are two types of open-access consumers. One, who usually take power from discoms but go to other sources only when discoms fail to supply the required. The others are those who have never drawn power from discoms but pay cross subsidy and additional subsidy under Electricity Act.

Now, after APERC order on August 13, the second type of open-access consumers too stopped payment of the cross subsidy and additional subsidy which Raghu says is not proper and they should continue to pay as before.

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APDCL posted 620% accumulated losses in five years…

Against the backdrop of ‘power sector reforms’ being carried out by the power department of Assam government, the accumulated losses of Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) had shot up staggeringly by 620 per cent in five year, beginning 2006-07 and ending in 2010-11. The accumulated losses of the company increased from Rs. 142.90 crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 1,029.61 crore in 2010-11, which is an increase of Rs. 886.71 crore, found the recently submitted Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report.

Further, the audit report observed that the borrowings of APDCL increased by 74.40 per cent from Rs. 479.58 crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 836.40 crore in 2010-11. The realisation per unit increased from Rs. 4.71 to Rs. 5.74 (21.87 per cent) during 2006-11, whereas the cost per unit increased from Rs 5.02 to Rs 7.00 (39.44 per cent) during the corresponding period.

The audit report said that “due to unnecessary drawal of loan fund and its non-utilisation, APDCL had burdened itself with a total interest liability of Rs. 42 lakh to the Assam government..

The debt-equity ratio ranged between 2.95:1 and 4.60:1 during the same period. “Increase in debt-equity ratio in 2010-11 as compared to 2006-07 was due to increase in unsecured loans,” the report said. At a time when the accumulated loss was mounting, the company could not recover its operational cost in any of the years as it failed to attain category wise sales-mix and restrict sub-transmission and distribution losses within the limits prescribed by AERC, found the CAG report. “We noticed that long length of the feeders, non-installation of capacitor banks, low power factor, un-metered consumers and theft of electricity etc. had contributed to energy losses,” stated the report.

It added: “APDCL, in reply, stated that it had taken various steps for improvement of sub-transmission and distribution losses viz. addition of transformation capacity as per 17th report of Electric Power Survey Committee, installation of meters for un-metered consumers, replacement of stop/defective meters and reduction in theft cases. However, the fact remains that APDCL was yet to achieve AERC norms for energy losses.”

Among the state public sector undertakings (PSUs) of Assam, APDCL was the third most loss making company in 2010-11 as it incurred a loss of Rs. 8.62 crore.

As part of power sector reforms, the erstwhile Assam State Electricity Board was unbundled and consequently, the business of power distribution was carried out by three distribution companies namely, Upper Assam Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UAEDCL), Lower Assam Electricity Distribution Company Limited (LAEDCL) and Central Assam Electricity Distribution Company Limited (CAEDCL), which were incorporated on October 23, 2003 under the Companies Act, 1956.Subsequently, the two companies viz., UAEDCL and CAEDCL were merged with LAEDCL on April 1, 2009 and LAEDCL was renamed as Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL), which was incorporated on October 23, 2009 under the Companies Act, 1956.

As on March 31, 2011, APDCL had distribution network of 1.12 lakh Circuit Kilometers (CKM) of lines, 36,240 sub-stations and 34,664 transformers of various categories catering to 19.13 lakh consumers.

 

Technorati Tags: Discoms,APDCL,Finance,Power,SEBs

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AP power sector gets Rs 1,604 cr from Centre…

The Andhra Pradesh government has directed all the distribution companies (discoms) to bring down aggregate technical and commercial losses to below 15 per cent in major towns in the state.

To achieve this target, the discoms have been asked by the state energy department to fully gear up for the implementation of the Re-structured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) meant for this purpose, within the schedule period.

Dinesh Kumar, principal secretary (energy), who reviewed the progress and performance of APEPDCL on Saturday, said that the Centre had sanctioned Rs 1,604 crore under Part-A and Part-B of the R-APDRP scheme to achieve the target.

With the investment of Rs1,604 crore the state government is expected to take up construction of numerous new substations, laying of new lines, renovation of old substations and lines, replacement of old electro-mechanical meters with high quality static meters, providing automatic meter reading instruments to the meters near distribution transformers (DTRs) and high-tension services, apart from establishment of a data centre, a disaster recovery data centre and a centralised customer care centre in the discom headquarter, a release said.

The state government has requested the power ministry to extend the scheme even to towns with population of 10,000 instead of the Centre’s criteria of 30,000 under Part-A of R-APDRP.

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