Power ministry projects fund requirement of Rs 10 lakh crore over five years through 2022
The power ministry has projected a mammoth fund requirement of Rs 10.33 lakh crore over the next five years (2017-22) for completion of the targeted electricity generation capacity during the period. This is a 40 per cent jump over the funding requirement of Rs 6.43 lakh crore estimated in 2012 for meeting the targets of power capacity addition in the current Plan period ending March 2017. The estimate for the five year period between 2017 and 2022 includes Rs 8.59 lakh crore for setting up 72,000 Megawatt (Mw) capacity in the conventional space and an additional 115,000 Mw in the renewable energy sector, apart from Rs 1.74 lakh crore funding for what the ministry calls “advance action” for the period 2022-27. Power ministry projects fund requirement of Rs 10 lakh crore over five years through 2022Power ministry projects fund requirement of Rs 10 lakh crore over five years through 2022 – ImageThe estimates are part of the draft of the National Electricity Plan (NEP) document compiled by the ministry’s technical and planning wing Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The document is prepared every five years for smooth commissioning of the targeted power capacity projects. “The requirement of funds for generation projects for 2017-2022 has been assessed based on total capacity addition of 72,495 Mw consisting of 50,025 Mw of coal and lignite-based power stations, 4,340 Mw of gas-based power stations, 15,330 Mw of hydro generation and 2,800 Mw of nuclear generation,” CEA said in the draft NEP, inviting stakeholders’ comments on the document. CEA said the fund requirement has been assessed based on assumptions of cost per Mw for various types of generation projects based on present day costs and year-wise phasing of expenditure. It clarified the estimate does not include funds required for Renovation and Maintenance of power plants and captive generation projects. For the five year period beyond 2022, the ministry has estimated fund requirement to the tune of Rs 6 lakh crore. “The fund requirement for the period 2022-27 has been calculated based on capacity addition of 1,16,800 Mw consisting of 0 Mw thermal, 12,000 Mw hydro, 4,800 Mw nuclear and 1,00,000 Mw renewable capacity addition,” the CEA said. Power ministry projects fund requirement of Rs 10 lakh crore over five years through 2022Power ministry projects fund requirement of Rs 10 lakh crore over five years through 2022 – Image CEA said the fund requirements for 2022-27 have been assessed based on assumptions of cost per megawatt for various types of generation projects based on escalation of 20 per cent of present day costs, except for solar projects, the cost of which has been retained and year-wise phasing of expenditure. The document also states 70 per cent of the cost of central sector projects and 80 per cent of the cost of state sector projects would be met through debt. For private sector projects, the debt component has been assumed at 75 per cent. The NEP document also states debt for the projects would be sourced through domestic term loans from banks, financial institutions and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). The government would also source debt from domestic bonds and foreign currency loans in addition to a $1-1.5 billion fund that would be set up through the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (Ltd) for renewable projects. Pernell McPhee Womens Jersey
Power utility charging excess, say consumers
The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) is demanding excess ‘wheeling’ charges from subsidised customers – farmers and powerloom owners – and the government should stop this, demanded the Maharashtra Veej Grahak Sanghatana, a power consumers body. The MSEDCL, however, claimed that they have been following the directives. (Wheeling charges are charged to transfer electrical power through transmission and distribution lines from one utility’s service area to another’s.) The MSEDCL has been asked by the state electricity regulatory authority to unbundle the charges it collects from consumers – wheeling charges and energy charges – and has allowed the company to charge Rs 1.18 per unit as wheeling charges. “But the company has added the wheeling charge of Rs 1.18 per unit to the existing government subsidised tariff that has led to sharp increase in the rates,” said Pratap Hogade of the Maharashtra Veej Grahak Sanghatana. The company has failed to break up the government subsidy given to agriculture connections and to powerlooms. “For instance, the subsidised energy charge to farmers is Rs 0.55 per unit (though the MSEDCL tariff stands at Rs 2.58 per unit). To this charge, wheeling charge of Rs 1.18 per unit is added, making the tariff Rs 1.73 per unit despite the actual tariff decreasing by Rs 0.82 per unit. The actual rise in the tariff should be by Rs 0.36 per unit – totalling to Rs 0.91 per unit for the farmers using power up to 3 horsepower motors,” Hogade said. This is the condition with all other tariffs, where the government is subsidising the charges. “The government has promised subsidy as per earlier tariff, but after the MERC orders of unbundling the same, the new tariff is found to be lower than earlier tariff, excluding the wheeling charges. The consumers are at disadvantage as they are unable to get the benefit of the lower tariff and on the other hand wheeling charges have been directly added to the tariff. Imagine a farmer being charged Rs 0.55 per unit will not have to pay Rs 1.73 per unit, when actual charges come to Rs 0.91 per unit,” said Siddharth Soni, former consumer representative. The Maharashtra Veej Sanghatana has therefore demanded that the MERC and the state government step in and set things right. The MSEDCL officials, however, said that the wheeling charges have been levied only as per the MERC directions. “The MSEDCL has no right to charge as per its whims. We cannot charge anything as we are answerable to the MERC as well as the government. As far as government subsidy and other matters are concerned, we have not increased the charges to these subsidised consumers, but added the wheeling charges as per the directives,” a senior official from MSEDCL said. Jatavis Brown Womens Jersey
From today, avail 0.75 per cent discount for cashless refuelling
Consumers will get the promised discount on cashless fuel purchases at petrol pumps run by state oil companies from Tuesday.“The discount will be credited to customer’s account by way of `cash back’ within maximum three working days,“ Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer, said in a statement on Monday. Last Thursday , the government had directed state-run oil companies to offer a 0.75% discount on the price of petrol and diesel to consumers paying by cards or mobile wallets to push people towards digital payments in the face of a severe cash crunch brought on by the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.` So, a person purchasing fuel for Rs 1,000 using credit and debit cards or wallets will get . 7.5 back in his account in ` three days. Oil companies decided on the `cash back’ route after four days of talks with banks and wallet companies. They had also considered an upfront discount to those paying digitally, but this seemed difficult to implement. Cash back is an often used method by card and mobile wallet companies to persuade consumers to use their services. The discount on fuel purchase is one among the many incentives the government has introduced recently to make people adopt digital means of payment even as banks struggle to meet customers’ cash demand. Nearly 4.5 crore customers buy petrol or diesel every day and collectively contribute about Rs 1,800 crore in transactions. Usually, just 20% of these transactions are digital, but in November, these have risen to 40% of the total due to the cash crunch. Brayden Point Authentic Jersey
Government to seek legal view on joining Reliance Industries arbitration
Government is considering joining the arbitration initiated by Reliance Industries and its partners against a $1.55 billion demand raised on them for “unfairly enriching” by producing natural gas belonging to ONGC. RIL and its partners BP Plc of the UK and Canada’s Niko Resources had on November 11 brought an arbitration notice against the government, disputing the $1.55 billion demand. “We have received the notice and are studying it. We will take an opinion of the law ministry on joining the arbitration,” a senior oil ministry official said. Under the dispute resolution mechanism set out in the production sharing contract (PSC), an arbitration notice over a dispute has to be followed up within six months by naming arbitrators. So, RIL and its partners have time till May 10 to name an arbitrator for the dispute. The government will thereafter name its arbitrator and the two will then decide on a presiding judge of the three-member arbitration panel. Often, the two do not agree on the presiding arbitrator and the matter over such appointment lands either at the International Court of Justice or the Supreme Court. “It is a long-drawn affair. If you are looking for a quick-fix solution, it won’t come so easy,” the official said. The oil ministry had on November 3 issued a notice to RIL, Niko and UK’s BP Plc seeking $1.47 billion for producing in the seven years ended March 31, 2016 about 338.332 million British thermal unit of gas that had seeped or migrated from the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) blocks into their adjoining KG-D6 in the Bay of Bengal. After deducting $71.71 million royalty paid on the gas produced and adding an interest at the rate of Libor plus 2 per cent, totalling USD 149.86 million, a total demand of $1.55 billion was made on RIL, BP and Niko. RIL is the operator of the KG-D6 block with 60 per cent interest while BP holds 30 per cent. The remaining 10 per cent is with Niko Resources. The Justice (retd) A P Shah Committee, in its August 28 report, concluded that there has been “unjust enrichment” to the contractor of the block KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) due to production of the migrated gas from ONGC’s blocks KG-DWN-98/2 and Godavari PML. The government, the official said, has accepted the recommendations of the committee and consequently, it decided to claim restitution from RIL-BP-Niko for “the unjust benefit received and unfairly retained”. So, a notice was sent, he said, adding that the government is also pressing RIL to pay USD 174.9 million of additional profit petroleum after certain costs were disallowed because of KG-D6 output being lower than targets. The cost recovery issue is also being arbitrated separately. Originally, ONGC had sued RIL for producing gas that had migrated from its blocks KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) and Godavari PML in the KG basin to adjoining KG-D6 block of RIL. Under direction of the Delhi High Court, the government had appointed a one-man committee under retired Justice A P Shah to go into the issue. Justin Tucker Womens Jersey
Air India turns to retd maintenance engineers to fight staff crunch
Faced with acute shortage of engineering staff, national carrier Air India has re-hired around 150 retired aircraft maintenance engineers for a three-year period on contract basis. While local airlines are expanding their fleet with the domestic air passenger traffic growing at over 20 per cent for nearly two years, there is a significant shortage of Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AME), the industry insiders say. Against this backdrop, Air India has started roping in retired AMEs and so far around 150 of them have joined back, Air India officials said. “I have a shortage of 150-200 engineers and I have employed my retired staff to fill up the gap…I have taken about 150 people on a contract for three years,” Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) CEO H R Jagannath said here today. There has been no recruitment of AMEs in the last 10 to 12 years, he said, adding currently Air India group has around 750 such engineers including the retired individuals who have been taken on three-year contracts. As a thumb rule, one aircraft requires around seven engineers. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, AIESL provides MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) services to aircraft. Noting that 10-15 AMEs are retiring every month, Jagannath said Air India has also started recruitment drive for these engineers. Currently, regulations do not allow private individuals to apply for AME examination and they have to be sponsored. As part of efforts to deal with the situation, Jagannath said private candidates should be allowed to appear for oral examination conducted by aviation regulator DGCA. “DGCA has agreed to it (allowing private candidates to take orals). They (DGCA) are very proactive and by March, I expect the rules to be in place,” he added. Klay Thompson Womens Jersey
Grant of new slots at Pune airport creates rift between airlines, AAI
Indian carriers are not just fighting with their peers for market share but also for landing and take-off slots at capacity constrained Indian airports. This latest reason behind the rift is the new slots at Pune airport, which Vistara, AirAsia and Air India were awarded, overlooking requests from airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJetBSE 1.68 %, Jet AirwaysBSE 0.55 % and GoAir. The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has objected to Airports Authority of India’s (AAI’s) move to allocate three pairs of new slots at Pune airport to Vistara, AirAsia and Air India. In a missive to AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra and aviation secretary RN Choubey, FIA has said that “they find this unilateral allocation unfair as well as breaking the thumb rule of fair competition, the level-playing field”. “We would, therefore, request the authority to kindly allow FIA member airlines an equal opportunity and a level-playing field in respect of these additional slots created at PNQ as ideally, the FIA member airlines who were earlier refused due to non-availability should be the one to be given the preference. Given past rejections, certain airlines had also stopped applying for new/additional slots due to obvious reasons,” read the letter written by Ujjway Dey, associate director of FIA. IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Jet Airways constitute FIA. Air India, which was earlier a member, pulled out of FIA. Newer carriers such as Vistara and AirAsia, that wish to become a part of FIA, have not been allowed entry into the group, as FIA has challenged their creation in courts in India. According to the procedures, the airport operator allocates slots in consultation with all stakeholders. Pune airport is an Indian Ai Force airport that is operated by AAI. AAI officials, however, said that they focus on evenly allocating slots and not on new or old airlines. “We, as an airport operator, cannot discriminate between one carrier and the other. The slots were allocated to airlines with least presence at the airport, so that it’s evenly distributed among airlines,” said an AAI official, who did not want to be identified. Frans Nielsen Jersey
GAIL gets 2nd extension for Kochi-Mangalore pipeline
State-run gas utility GAIL India Ltd has won a second extension for completing the Kochi- Bangalore-Mangalore natural gas pipeline as it faces unprecedented problems in getting land in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Oil regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) last week gave GAIL four more years till February 2019 to complete the 1104-km Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore natural gas pipeline. The Rs 44.93 billion was originally to be completed in March 2013 but the deadline was first relaxed to June 2015. “Considering the recommendation of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the state of unprecedented socio-political hindrance in execution of the project. PNGRB has decided to revise the completion schedule from June 2015 to February 2019,” PNGRB said in the December 8 notice. GAIL is to lay the pipeline in two phases – a 44-km Phase-1 connecting Kochi port to FACT plant in the city and a 1,060-km Phase-II taking the line from there to Thrissur- Kotanand and Pallakad in Kerala and onward to Coimbatore and Salem in Tamil Nadu before reaching Bangalore. From Kootannd a branch line is to go to Kozhikode and onward to Mangalore. Phase-I of the pipeline has been commissioned, which takes the gas imported at Kochi LNG terminal to the fertilizer plant in the city. However, the Phase-II has been languishing depsite the Supreme Court supporting it. Construction has not progressed due to protests by farmers over laying of the pipeline through farm land. This has led to Petronet LNG Ltd’s 5 million tons a year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility at Kochi running at less than five per cent of the capacity as there is no pipeline to take the fuel to consumers. Kyle Fuller Jersey