OERC stays OPTCL order to limit drawal by industrial users

The Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has stayed the operation of the load restriction order issued by the Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL) to restrict the drawal of industrial load up to 10 Mw. It has issued notice to the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC), OPTCL, Grid Corporation of Orissa (Gridco) and the Orissa government to file their replies before OERC within 7 days.

All the distribution licensees have been impleaded as respondents in the matter and directed to submit their submission on this issue. Hearing a petition filed by M/s Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd. (FACOR) against the load restriction imposed by OPTCL, the commission stayed the operation of the order with immediate effect, pending disposal of the petition.

OERC, in its order, stated that imposing restriction to limit the drawal within 10 Mw across the industrial consumers without considering their survival load is arbitrary and unjust. So it should be withdrawn immediately. FACOR pleaded that unless the order of OPTCL is stayed immediately, all EHT (Extra High Tension) industries in the state will face irreparable loss.

It further argued that its unit located at Randia (near Bhadrakh) can not operate at reduced load of 10 Mw (against the contract demand of 34 Mw) due to minimum requirement of continuous operation of single furnace. Staying the operation of the order of OPTCL, the commission warned that violation of the stay order will not only attract penalty under the section 142 of the Electricity Act, 2003 but also criminal prosecution under section 146 of the above act.

The order of the OERC comes as a bolt from the blue for the state government which is suffering from power shortage due to drop in hydro electricity generation following receding water levels in the reservoirs.

The state government, meanwhile, has issued orders under section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to all the captive generating plants (CGPs) to maximise power generation and inject power to the state grid.