CESC to commission first phase of Haldia thermal unit in Oct

CESC today said it will commission the first phase of a new thermal unit at its Haldia power plan in next three months. The total capacity of the power project is 600MW, but the first phase will involve addition of 300MW capacity.

“The original plan was to commission (the first phase of) the project in December. But we are ahead of schedule. The commissioning will happen between Durga Puja and Diwali (in October). We will be commissioning the second phase in January,” Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of CESC, told reporters here today.The company had earlier said it will invest around Rs 4,000 crore in this project.

The 600MW plant is expected to sell power to CESC's own consumers in Kolkata and its sub-urban regions at administered tariff.CESC is the sole distributor of electricity within an area of 567 square kilometres of Kolkata and Howrah. It serves 2.5 million consumers, which includes domestic, industrial and commercial users.

Goenka said the company's retail arm Spencer's has improved its per square feet revenues and is on the verge of achieving break-even. Spencer's monthly average per square feet sales improved to Rs 1,341 from Rs 1,308 a year earlier.

“We are currently losing Rs 18 per square feet only. Spencer's is almost profitable at the operating level,” Goenka said. Spencer's plans to add 300,000 square feet of retail space by March, 2014 to its existing capacity of 1.05 million square feet.

CESC also said its net profit for April-June period increased by 15 per cent from a year earlier to Rs 151 crore. Net sales were at Rs 1,848 crore, up 30 per cent on a year-on-year basis.