Power tariff likely to go up in Andhra
The government is gearing up to give shock treatment to power consumers what with the power utilities giving final touches to revise the existing power tariff upwards by at least 10 per cent. According to highly-placed sources, discoms would present their revenue requirements and earnings statement to chief minister Chandrababu Naidu in a fortnight. Sources said the discoms are reeling under losses to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore and are expecting to recover Rs 2,500-3,000 crore by increasing the tariff to the domestic sector by 10 per cent. Sources said that consumers are sure to face additional burden with higher tariff even if the state government reduced the quantum of increase to around 6-7 per cent. Ironically, the state government has assured the Centre to revise the tariff at least by 5 per cent annually while joining the UDAY scheme as part of the reforms being brought in the energy sector. The AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) has directed the discoms to submit their tariff proposals for the next financial year (2017-18) by the end of November. The discoms are likely to seek extension of the deadline for submission of their revenue returns with the ERC as the state government has to take a final call on the issue of tariff revision. Sources said that the issue of latest revenues and expenditure of power distribution companies in the state was hotly discussed at the high-level review meeting held in the city on Monday. The meeting was chaired by principal secretary, energy, Ajay Jain in which CMDs of both Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (SPDCL) and Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL) — HY Dora and MM Naik — and AP Genco managing director Vijayanand were present. Sources said that the senior officials found the discoms in dire straits and expressed their displeasure for failing to tighten the purses. The situation was in fact noticed at a meeting held about three months ago and the discoms were directed to cut down the costs drastically. However, the continued purchase of power from private sector reported to have bleed the discoms heavily resulting in massive losses. The discoms purchased Rs 22,876 crore worth power during the current year and are estimating that it might go up to Rs 24,000 crore. The discoms are expected to spend Rs 1,000 crore exclusively on transmission costs during the current fiscal from which SPDCL’s share would be around Rs 650 crore and EPDCL’s share around Rs 350 crore. “We will get an exact picture by next fortnight as the exercise of computing the revenues through sales and costs is l being worked out,” said a senior official. A top source said that a decision with regard to the quantum of hike to be proposed before the ERC would be taken only after getting the final revenue reports. Interestingly, AP is ranked one in the country by the World Bank in energy sector. Meanwhile, CPM state secretary P Madhu and CPI secretary K Ramakrishna have demanded that the state government withdraw any proposal to hike power tariff as it would impose a heavy burden on the consumers. Tyler Higbee Authentic Jersey
BYPL partners with Sensus to implement Advanced Metering Infrastructure solution
Reliance Infrastructure backed BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) has signed an agreement with Sensus, a Xylem brand, and global supplier of smart meters and utility-grade communications systems. The agreement, signed at the India-UK Tech Summit, will enable BYPL to use FlexNet, Sensus’ advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution, in BYPL, Delhi Service area on a trial basis. This technology trial will start in the next three to four months and will simplify installation and commissioning of the Sensus FlexNet AMI solution in BYPL, Delhi. “The FlexNet Long Range Radio technology has exceptional penetration and reach to enable a simple and robust architecture for all applications. It will also help BYPL, Delhi to reduce power theft, data loss and improve billing and collection processes,” BSES said. BYPL’s requirements for coverage, capacity and longer-term needs of smart grids will be met, without significant additional investment, by the Sensus FlexNet AMI solution, BSES said. “I am sure this technology will help fulfil BYPL’ requirements for coverage, capacity and longer-term needs of smart grids without significant additional investment. This trial will provide a huge fillip to our endeavour in this direction and enable us to draw on Sensus’ wide ranging global expertise,” BYPL CEO P R Kumar said. Jaleel Scott Womens Jersey
Noida power discom promises to fix power snags in 15 minutes
The power discom has formed a quick response team (QRT) to look into local faults in Noida and fix them. The team, which started functioning from November 1 and comprises 18 sub-divisional officers (SDOs) and about 50 junior engineers (JE), has to repair local or distribution faults in areas under them within 15 minutes of being informed . After the system is put in place, the entire Gautam Budh Nagar district will be put under QRTs by December this year. Mukul Singhal superintending engineer, PVVNL, said that he has been concerned about repeated complaints of power cuts because of local faults which have taken more than an hour to repair. “I’ve been aiming at streamlining the process of distribution since long. Consumers have had to bear the brunt of being without electricity. That’s why I’ve instructed all SDOs and JEs to look into any such issue within 15 minutes,” Singhal said. According to Singhal, the SDOs and JEs would be assigning the sectors under their area to different teams to address faults. “Earlier, linemen and officials would take hours to even respond to a complaint and the consumers would be left waiting. This move is to ensure that the time frame leads to work getting done faster,” Singhal said. Under the measure, the QRT team will be expected to report to the problem spot within ten minutes of receiving the complaint and start work on fixing the problem. “This will reduce the time wasted in identifying the problem and getting on to fixing it,” Singhal said. As of now, more than 20 sectors have been covered under such QRTs. They include sectors 22, 23, 24, 25, 32, 33 and 35. By and by, more sectors will be covered. Further, a log sheet will be maintained which will entail details of the complaint such as time taken to address the problem from the time it was reported. “If the problem gets resolved in more than the stipulated time, then I’ll take the necessary actions against the official or in the event of distribution error, I will look into providing the necessary boost to the infrastructure,” Singhal said. He said that if the system works fine, then the entire district will be placed under such QRTs by December. “The aim is to have the entire district, including rural areas, covered under these teams so as to ensure seamless supply of power with minimal time spent on addressing the problem areas,” Singhal said.
India Power to launch drive against power thieves in Gaya
Now that the festive season is over, India Power, the private company holding franchise for power distribution in Gaya town, Bodh Gaya and Manpur is all set to launch a drive against power thieves. A few days back, the company was pulled up by Gaya district magistrate Kumar Ravi for its failure to lodge FIR against the wrongdoers. In October, just one FIR was lodged by the company. Company DGM Rakesh Ranjan said it was due to the festive season that we did not take any initiative. Now post Chhath, the company will launch a drive against power theft, said Ranjan. As per an estimate, nearly 60% of the available power was being stolen/consumed free. According to India Power sources, as against the supply of 60 million units a month, the company was getting a revenue for only 22 million units. The failure of the power company to lodge cases against power thieves also resulted in revenue loss to the state, as a part of the penalty imposed by courts goes to the state coffer via South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd. During the review, besides directing India Power to lodge criminal case against power thieves, the DM also expressed concern over complaints of billing anomalies, particularly the practice of estimated billing. Power users of the town have been demanding billing on the basis of actual power consumption and not estimated power consumption. Asked about the practice of estimated billing, India Power deputy general manager Rakesh Ranjan said the company always tries to present bill on the basis of actual consumption and in the urban area about 80% billing is done on the basis of actual consumption. In 20% cases, estimated bills were presented as photo reading of the meters was problematic in many cases on account of several factors, including wrong address of consumers and unavailability of consumers at the time of meter reading. Conceding that power theft was a serious impediment in the execution of company’s programmes, Ranjan said the continuance of 40,000 old meters and 20,000 unmetered power users was responsible for revenue loss to the company. Besides direct power theft, old meters also cause huge loss to the power company. The process of replacement of old meters with electronic ones is still on. In several cases, consumers resist the installation of electronic meters, said the power company official. Barkevious Mingo Authentic Jersey
Total signs first post-sanctions Western energy deal with Iran to develop largest gas field
France’s Total has signed a deal with Iran to further develop its part of the world’s largest gas field, becoming the first western energy company to sign a major deal with Tehran since the lifting of international sanctions earlier this year. Total confirmed on Tuesday it had signed a heads of agreement with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) for the Phase 11 development of South Pars in the Gulf, which extends into Qatari waters where it is known as the North field. The SP11 project will progress in two stages, the first costing an estimated $2 billion, Total said. The produced gas will be fed into Iran’s gas network. The French company has already played a key role in Iran’s energy industry, including the development of phases 2 and 3 of South Pars in the 2000s, before pulling out of the country after international sanctions were imposed in 2010. Foreign companies keen to tap into Iran’s vast oil and gas reserves have so far made little inroads into the country despite the lifting of many sanctions earlier this year following a landmark agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme. Tehran has pledged to open up its oil industry but foreign companies, including BP and Italy’s Eni recently said they still have little information about Iranian oil fields and contract terms, hindering investment decisions. Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne, who has taken some major investment decisions in recent years despite one of the sector’s longest downturns, said the agreement “resulted in an attractive commercial framework.” Total said it would operate the SP11 project and have a 50.1 percent stake in it. Petropars, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, will have a 19.9 percent stake while state-China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) will have a 30 percent stake. The development will have a production capacity of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day, or 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent, with output to be fed into Iran’s gas network. “This project fits with the group’s strategy of expanding its presence in the Middle East, where the origins of the group lie, and growing its gas portfolio by adding low unit cost, long plateau gas assets,” Pouyanne said in a statement. Total will develop the project in compliance with national and international laws and the investment will be undertaken without bank finance, he told reporters. Mikkel Boedker Jersey
GAIL’s plans and projects aligned to help India move towards becoming a gas based economy : B C Tripathi
As India marches ahead towards becoming a gas based economy, the role of GAIL (India) Ltd— India’s largest gas transportation company assumes a lot of significance. Out of India’s 15000 kms pipelines network, GAIL owns natural gas pipelines network in excess of 11,000 kms. Besides, the company is currently executing about 3500 kms of pipeline network (under construction) while a large chunk of other projects across the value chain including petrochemical plants, shipping facilities, LNG terminal and others are under various stages of planning and execution. With the increasing demand for gas in the domestic segment, GAIL is also moving fast to expand its city gas distribution (CGD) network, with the most recent being the Rs 10 billion CGD network project announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the city of Varanasi (in Uttar Pradesh). Named as Urja Ganga (or the River of Energy), the project will see GAIL laying a pipeline network of 800 kms in the city of Varanasi and feed clean fuel to nearly 3.7 million population residing in the city. Apart from possessing one of the fastest project execution capabilities for laying pipelines, the company also has six gas processing plants for production of LPG, integrated petrochemical plants, LNG importing facilities (existing and under construction) besides having a decent presence in the upstream oil and gas sector. Along with sister PSUs, GAIL has participating interests (equity stakes) in various oil and gas blocks awarded under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) bidding rounds of Government of India. In a free-wheeling interaction with Anupama Airy, the Chairman and Managing Director of GAIL (India) Ltd, B C Tripathi spoke in detail about the company’s investment plans and strategies in line with India’s plans to emerge as a gas based economy. The roadmap ahead for the company clearly holds a lot of investment potential for domestic and global companies in the energy space. While doing so, the company is also working towards while already contributing in a big way to the government’s Make in India drive while aiming to create new job opportunities and increased business options for the domestic industry. Excerpts: How is GAIL aligning itself and contributing towards the government’s plans of positioning India as a gas based economy? Also touch upon how your projects are helping the government in its Make in India drive while offering investment opportunities to investors across the globe? The larger policy push of the government is indeed on making India as the gas based economy. So we are trying to place the midstream sector and our operations in line with and aiming to fulfil the government’s vision to spread gas across the country. Even today 50% of the country does not have access to gas so the major expansion plan of the pipeline that we at GAIL have started is about 3,500 kilometers line (trunk pipelines) entailing an investment of Rs 200 billion. This is definitely going to give support to the steel companies, EPC consultancy companies and other associated local equipment suppliers and manufacturers. The second big ticket programme of this government is to supply clean fuel (gas) to households and GAIL is playing a major role in supplying piped natural gas (PNG) to households with Rs 60 billion of approved projects. We are also pushing LPG to rural areas where taking gas pipeline infrastructure is comparatively costly and the government is rightly and in a major way already supplying subsidised LPG to the rural areas. Today the biggest PNG project by GAIL is in the city of Bangalore where there is a huge potential. Now with the recent approval of the Cabinet seven more cities in Eastern India have come to GAIL for providing PNG through a network of pipeline infrastructure. With this, GAIL will be largely present across the big cities in India barring a few like Chennai in South India. All seven cities are along the Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline and include Varanasi, Patna, Bhubneshwar, Cuttak, Jamshedpur, Ranchi and Kolkata. With these 3500 kms of trunk pipelines you will also have 20 other medium towns which will be in the catchment of these pipelines. They will offer investment opportunities in the city gas sector where the private sector players can come on their own or as Joint venture partners with GAIL and start expanding the city gas network. The other expansion that we are looking at is the east coast LNG terminal at Kakinada. We hope this will be the first LNG terminal that will be commissioned on the east coast. It is on FSRU based project and the target is that by December 2017, this terminal should be commissioned. Lot of activities have already happened and the state government of Andhra Pradesh has already given their in-principal approval to be one of the partners and be the anchor load customer there. This gives support for the financial closure of the project. This is another opportunity where we could invite the international investors to come as partners in the LNG infrastructure on the east coast. Apart from this, in the western India, the old terminal of erstwhile Dabhol will now go for a breakwater as the demerger is going to happen. Following the de-merger, the LNG terminal will be a separate company led by GAIL and we have agreed to infuse further equity (alongwith NTPC Ltd) to create the breakwater facility. So this terminal will also be functional in 2-3 years and unlike now when it remains shut for 5-6 months, it will be made functional round the year after the breakwater facility is created. Then we have the Dhamra LNG terminal in Odisha where we are working with Adani and IOC, where we have taken the equity as also the capacity, should also be ready by 2020. There will also be an LNG terminal in down South near Chennai by IOC apart from our LNG terminals Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra. Then in Kochi you already have an LNG terminal as also in Gujarat. So, the whole
Modi’s Ujjwala scheme set to cross 10 million mark this week
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drive to give liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to the poor without upfront charges is gaining the scale of a flagship entitlement scheme akin to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) piloted by the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The Ujjwala scheme of distributing clean cooking fuel to women in poor households launched in May by Modi is set to cross 10 million connections this week, with states in the east, north-east and hilly regions being the biggest beneficiaries, a person involved in implementing the scheme said on condition of anonymity. Poll-bound Uttar Pradesh is the largest beneficiary state with 3.4 million poor women getting the connection, followed by states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Jharkhand and the north-eastern states too have got priority status under the scheme with no cap on the number of connections to be issued. Members of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minorities are the major beneficiaries of the scheme. Interestingly, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had performed well in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, the party wants to consolidate its position in states like Odisha and make further inroads into the north-east which together comprise 25 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP is in power in Assam. It also partners government in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Similarly, West Bengal and Odisha remain crucial for the BJP because the two states together control 63 Lok Sabha seats. Jammu & Kashmir is also a priority area for the BJP where it had won seats in Jammu and Ladakh regions, while the party continued its dismal performance in the Kashmir valley where it drew a blank. The performance was repeated in December 2014 when BJP won seats in Jammu but didn’t open an account in the Valley. The steps taken by the NDA is also crucial because the BJP leadership hopes to play a decisive role in the assembly elections in states like Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Uttar Pradesh and north-eastern states in the next two years. States are given priority status if LPG use is less than the national average of 61% of households. Geographically and economically-challenged states received priority as LPG access has been less in those regions. “Our target for the current financial year is 15 million connections. We have already cleared applications more than that and are working towards releasing all of that shortly. In a day or two, we will cross the 10 million mark,” explained the person quoted above. To make sure that all the households that are given connections get easy refills, oil companies Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd are adding the number of distributors. This year, the companies added 300 distributorships and more than 1,600 applications are being processed. Companies have also identified 400 locations for new distributors in Uttar Pradesh. The drive to promote LPG as a clean cooking fuel is altering the country’s energy mix resulting in higher import of LPG and sufficient kerosene for industrial purposes as well as for exports. The drive is also part of a strategy to veer the country towards a gas-based economy in light of the climate change action plan. According to Kalpana Jain, senior director, Deloitte in India, how well gas is absorbed in the economy is a function of infrastructure available to take the fuel to the consumption points. Mikkel Diskerud Jersey
Slow pace of private vehicles switching to compressed natural gas worries government
At a time when the National Democratic Alliance government is pulling out all stops to move towards a gas-based economy, it is concerned about the slow pace of private petrol and diesel vehicles switching to compressed natural gas (CNG), according to two officials from the ministry of petroleum and natural gas who did not want to be identified. Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan has set a target of gas contributing 15% to India’s clean energy mix. Gas currently contributes 6.5% in India’s energy basket. The Narendra Modi-led government’s inclination towards cleaner sources of fuel comes in the backdrop of its pledge to reduce its carbon footprint. India on 2 October became the 62nd country to ratify the Paris climate deal which came into effect on 4 November. “The rate at which cars are adopting gas as fuel is a little worrisome as we wanted a faster conversion rate and more sizeable quantity. A lot of cars have shifted but there are still a lot more to go. We are also looking to increase CNG outlets in the country that will facilitate vehicles to have easier access to the cleaner fuel,” said one of the officials. The petroleum ministry in a draft policy, issued on 5 March 2015, lowered the threshold investment limit for marketing rights for CNG to Rs.5 billion from Rs.20 billion to encourage new retail outlets. According to Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, an arm under the petroleum ministry, as on 31 March 2016 there are 1,081 CNG stations in the country with 2,557,895 CNG-fuelled private vehicles consuming a total of 2,155.44 thousand tonnes of the clean fuel. Queries emailed to the spokesperson of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas on 4 October remained unanswered. According to experts, while there is a sizeable chunk of vehicles that use CNG there is a need to increase the number of gas-based vehicles. “Gas-based vehicles have obvious advantages over petrol- and diesel-fuelled vehicles,” said Dilip Khanna, partner at EY, a consultancy. India’s domestic gas production fell by 5% to 33.65 billion cubic metres (bcm) in financial year 2015-16 compared with 35.40 bcm a year ago. Currently, India’s natural gas demand is 473 million standard cu. metre per day (mscmd) which is expected to increase to 494 mscmd in 2017-18 and 523 mscmd in 2018-19. Morten Andersen Womens Jersey
India may shortly move towards dynamic petroleum product pricing model
With two international oil companies set to start retail sale of petroleum products in India, the domestic market’s move towards dynamic pricing seems imminent, said two officials from the ministry of petroleum and natural gas who did not want to be named. Under dynamic, or real-time, pricing, price of a product can vary as fixed by individual retailers across locations and duration of the day. At present, retailers charge uniform prices for petroleum products such as diesel and petrol across outlets in the same region. Though the prices of domestic cooking gas and kerosene are set by the government, petrol and diesel prices are deregulated. “With international entities such as Rosneft OAO and BP Plc coming in the retail scenario, we might see dynamic pricing for petrol and diesel as competition is sure to increase,” said one of the officials. While BP has recently received a licence to set up 3,500 fuel stations, Rosneft inherited 2,700 retail outlets following a deal to acquire Essar Oil Ltd. According to an 8 September 2016 report by Mint newspaper, state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) has already started experimenting with dynamic pricing at select outlets. Currently, India has 56,190 fuel retail outlets, including state-run and private, which sell petrol and diesel of firms such as Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), HPCL and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL). The other firms involved in the fuel retail are Numaligarh Refinery Ltd and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. Also, private entities such as Reliance Industries Ltd, Essar Oil (acquired by Roseneft) and Shell India also retail petroleum products. According to a draft policy by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, there are three retail outlet models in place—dealer owned dealer operated, dealer owned corporation operated and corporation owned corporation operated. Queries emailed to the spokesperson of the petroleum ministry on 4 October remained unanswered. According to experts, competition will improve the retailing standards in the country. “India will now experience international standards which will surely improve consumer experience,” said Sanjay Grover, partner at EY, a consultancy. According to BP Global data, India has emerged as the third-largest consumer of crude oil with a consumption of 4.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) for calendar year 2015, after the US (19.39 mbpd) and China (11.96 mbpd). India overtook Japan, which consumed 4.15 mbpd. A 12 September Fitch Ratings report noted consumption growth for petroleum products to remain strong over the medium term. “Consumption increased by 7.8% in the first quarter of the fiscal year to end-March 2017 compared with 10.9% in FY16. We expect growth to moderate to around 5-6% in FY17 and thereafter. We also expect continued strong gasoline consumption growth of around 9-10% over the medium term, supported by robust passenger vehicle sales amid low crude-oil prices,” the report added. Adrian Colbert Womens Jersey
India could add to global glut of oil products
With India playing an increasingly important role in the global oil market, concerns are growing that its refining capacity may exceed demand. This could force it to export surplus oil products and dampen an already soft global market. India is expected to overtake Japan as the world’s third-thirstiest gulper of oil. And there seems to be significant potential for demand to surge, considering there are still only 21 passenger cars per 1,000 people in the country. In China, the ratio is 87-to-1,000. Many in the oil industry expect the world’s second-most-populous nation to drive the global oil demand from 2020. India’s crude imports have largely continued to grow in recent years. According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, the country in 2015 imported 195.1 million tons, up roughly 60% from 2008. Demand is estimated to grow about 4% annually until 2020, when the country is expected to need 900,000 barrels per day more than it did in 2014. That would represent 15% of the 6.1 million barrels per day in global growth during the same period, according to OPEC’s medium-term estimates in 2015. A sign of promise in India’s oil market came on Oct. 15, when a group of companies including Russia’s state-owned Rosneft announced a plan to acquire Essar Oil, a major Indian oil refiner and retailer. The expected demand growth is also prompting Indian refiners to expand capacity. State-owned Indian Oil has announced a plan to double its refining capacity in the next 14 years, according to Ito Mashino of Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp., or Jogmec. “Many oil producers have announced expansion strategies, such as bolstering and updating equipment on the back of the growing demand for oil products,” said Mashino at the Japanese government affiliated corporation. Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum also plan to build large refineries, sources say. “Refining margins remain wide now that crude oil prices have fallen,” Mashino said, referring to the difference between the prices of oil products and the cost of the crude they are made from. “Refiners are having a field day.” Sylvester Williams Womens Jersey