Good days appear to be ahead for the cash-strapped RPG power utility CESC Ltd, as the Batliboi audit report is expected to point out that the company be allowed to recover about Rs 100 crore by way of fuel surcharge dues.
Pressure is also mounting to get the Batliboi report made public, even as the state government maintains a discernible silence on the matter. According to sources, the report, still very much under wraps despite being submitted, is understood to have also categorically pointed out that the power company's profits were actually less than what is can legally earn under the Electricity Act.
It has also ruled out the possibility of CESC having to refund Rs 100 crore to consumers for overcharging them. The RPG group has about 43 per cent in CESC Ltd.
However, the findings of the report apart, what is critical for CESC is that it is made public at the earliest, in order that the company's bottomline, already burdened with a Rs 29 crore first half loss, does not suffer further.
But with the state power minister Sankar Sen out of Calcutta, power department officials have been in no hurry to unwrap the report before the public.
While there is no official comment from CESC, it is believed that the company is upbeat since the report is believed to have vindicated its stand on the controversial fuel surcharge and tariffs issue in a major way.
It has also said the company was not compensated by the tariffs increase as was being claimed by the state power department.
The three basic issues which were in question relating to CESC's ongoing battle with the state power department:
n whether there would be a refund to consumers by CESC
n whether CESC can collect what it claims is unrecovered fuel surcharge
n whether it had made profits in excess of that permissible under the Electricity Act.
The report has dwelt on all these aspects. The report has been submitted to Deb Kumar Bose, who constituted the one-man committee to look into the fuel surcharge issue.
But with Bose and Sen not having had the time to sit together on the Batliboi findings, the RPG power company, the key player in the drama, is waiting for an outcome.
However, on the bottomline front, the 1997-98 results would be a major dampener for CESC, since the losses are expected to be more than that of the first half.
Traditionally, consumption is lower in the second half of the year, something which would further impact the results. But the company appears to be confident that the worst is clearly behind it and it can start 1998-99 on a cleaner slate.
CESC's other major project, the Balagarh power plant, is also one which is keeping the company busy, and a quicker end to the fuel surcharge and tariff controversy is expected to see the company going full swing on the Balagarh front as well.
