Bseb Refuses To Pay Ntpc Bill

The Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) has refused to pay the energy bill of about Rs 100 crore for the month of October to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

BSEB has written to Central Electricity Authority (CEA) asking it to intervene in the dispute which, it believes, is the result of loading the entire fixed cost of NTPC's Farakka thermal power plant on BSEB's bill.

BSEB has suggested that the fixed cost of the three NTPC plants in the eastern region be recovered from the consumers on the basis of their original allocation of capacity.

BSEB is not far from truth in its allegation that NTPC loaded the whole fixed cost of the Farakka plant. But, NTPC says the loading of the fixed cost has been done as per the existing tariff calculation norms fixed by the K P Rao committee.

Under the committee's formula, each consumer of central sector power is first billed the lowest tariff against its consumption.

The hydel power from Chukha is the cheapest and each buyer is first billed for the Chukha power up to its full entitlement.

The three NTPC thermal power plants have different rates of tariff each month. The consumers are billed for rest of their consumption for the month for power from the three different plants.

But, the rule is to book the lowest cost power first.

The month of October was an exceptional one when the Farakka plant remained shut down for the last 21 days as power supply was suspended to WBSEB and DVC. As a result, The total drawal of central sector power by these two agencies was exceptionally low for the month. It was 80 million unit for WBSEB (including 65 mu for Chukha power) and 56 mu for DVC (including 18 mu of Chukha power).

Both the agencies were first booked for the lowest cost Chukha power against their entitlement. WBSEB drew another 15 mu from NTPC.

Again, on the principle of lowest cost power, it was billed for Kahelgaon power only which was the cheapest among the NTPC plants.

In case of DVC, besides the lowest cost Chukha power, it was billed for 22 mu of Kahelgaon power and 16 mu of Talcher power.

The consumption for the month was so low that it was not required to bill for the costliest Farakka power.

Thougth the Farakka power is generally the cheapest among the three NTPC plants, it was different in October as the entire month's fixed cost was loaded on the small quantum of generation when the plant worked for just 11 days.

BSEB has been billed for 56 mu of Chukha power and 296 mu of NTPC power. This included 124 mu of Kahelgaon, 125 mu of Talcher and 47 mu of Farakka power.

What happened was that WBSEB did not pay for Kahelgaon and Talcher power at all. DVC paid for lower cost Kahelgaon and Talcher power only. Most of the highest cost Farakka power was booked against Bihar State Electricity Board.

Farakka generated a total of 85 mu only in October of which 47 mu was charged onBihar State Electricity Board and 6 mu on Gridco of Orissa. The remaining 32 mu was exported outside the eastern region.