CERC penalty on Uttarakhand transmission utility & SLDC

Cites non compliance of provisions of Electricity Act, Grid Code and its directives

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each on the Power Transmission Corporation of Uttarakhand and State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) for the overdrawal of power from the gird by not complying with the with the provisions of Electricity Act, Grid Code and directions of the CERC and National Load Dispatch Centre.

CERC issued its order on a petition regarding non-compliance of its earlier order of August 17, 2012 and the show cause notice served on September 7, 2012. CERC observed there are no mitigating factors which exonerate the respondents (Power Transmission Corporation of Uttarakhand & SLDC) from the charges initiated under section 142 of the Electricity Act. As regards ensuring nil overdrawal from the grid at frequency below 49.5 Hz, CERC noted that between July 10, 2012 and July 16, 2012, Uttarakhand’s overdrawal was 2.88 million units.

“In our view, it is the SLDC, which shall decide the load management protocol and implement through the distribution company instead of seeking approval from the distribution company. Any instance of non-compliance should be promptly brought to the notice of the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission for appropriate directions to the distribution company.  It is obvious that our directions to SLDC about  overdrawing from the grid has not been complied with,” CERC said in its ruling.

Furthermore, CERC said SLDC being the  apex body and responsible for real time operation in the state, should have a well-defined plan to restrict the load in case of low frequency conditions. Under such a state of  affairs, it would not be required to pass messages of Northern Region Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) to all 132 kV sub-stations manually. Instead, clear instructions must be available with the concerned agencies to cut the load on pre-planned and selected substations. The SLDC should have a proper load management scheme rather than blindly conveying the message to all 132 kV sub-stations.   As regards the separation of the feeders used for load shedding through under frequency relays from the feeders used for manual load shedding, there is no response from the respondents.