 "APTEL directs Maharashtra discom to pay Rs 2,477 crore to state-run NTPC")
The Appellate Tribunal of Electricity (Aptel) recently directed the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) to pay state-owned NTPC Rs 2,477 crore on account of the former terminating its agreement with a subsidiary of the latter.
The issue dates back to 2014, when MSEDCL ended the agreement with Ratnagiri Gas Power Pvt Ltd (RGPPL), the NTPC subsidiary that has a 2 gigawatt (Gw) gas-fired plant in the state.
Ratnagiri Gas Power, however, said the distribution company (discom) did it unilaterally and its past dues were not cleared.
The agreement was signed in 2007 -- two years after NTPC took a controlling stake in the company. RGPPL has a troubled past with several instances of shutdown and revival packages. The project was first envisaged as Dabhol power plant by US-based Enron Corporation in 1995 to build a natural gas-fired station in an agreement with the Maharashtra government. The high cost of power kept the project languishing till Enron exited it and wrapped its operations in India after it went bankrupt in 2002.
In 2005, GAIL and NTPC signed a joint venture with each holding 25 per cent in the power plant to operationalise it. Gas for the plant was supposed to be delivered from the KG-D6 basin of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). The project also housed a regasification facility, which made it a perfect spot for imported liquefied natural gas. However, the depletion of supply from KG-D6 again stalled operations at the power plant.
While 7.6 MMSCMD (metric million standard cubic metres a day) of gas was allocated to the petitioner from RIL’s KG-D6 block and 0.9 MMSCMD from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC’s) marginal gas fields, gas from the KG-D6 basin started declining from September 2011 and eventually stopped on March 1, 2013. The supply from the ONGC field continued, though reduced, the order timeline noted.
“According to the petitioner, the capacity charges on levelised basis is of 0.98 per unit, the total annual capacity charges worked out to Rs 1484.12 crore per annum; Full Capacity Charges was payable at 80 per unit of 2150 MW (i.e. 1720 MW) declared capacity on annualized basis, and declared capacity, lower than this, was to be recovered on pro-rata basis after COD Blocks/ Station; and MSEDCL shall pay capacity charges in proportion to the allocation of power from RGPPL,” the tribunal order said.
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MSEDCL did not pay its dues and also refuted the receipts raised by RGPPL. In a recent petition to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission in August last year, it requested the commission to declare the invoices raised by RGPPL “void, non-est and illegal”, and also restrain RGPPL from issuing any further invoices.
Aptel in its order said if Rs 2,477 crore was not paid in four months of the date of receiving a copy of its order, the accounts of MSEDCL will be attached, and the amount will be realised from the bank account.
The spokespersons for MSEDCL and NTPC did not comment on the tribunal’s order.
LONG TROUBLED HISTORY OF RATNAGIRI GAS POWER PLANT
* Planned as Dabhol Power plant by US-based Enron Corporation in 1995
* Plant failed to supply power over high costs
* Enron declared bankruptcy and exited India in 2002
* NTPC and GAIL partnered to take over the project. NTPC is running the power plant, and GAIL the LNG unit
* Dwindling gas supply from KG-D6 well of Reliance Industries impacted power generation and supply
* RGPPL tried to procure gas but Maha discom cancelled the PPA unilaterally
* RGPPL asked for recovery of dues from Maharashtra
* Aptel ordered Maha discom to pay Rs 2,447 crore to NTPC as past and current dues