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DERC seeks opinion on revising charges for migrating customers

Don’t Differentiate Between APL and BPL Families, Provide Power To All, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal Tells States.

As state governments through their respective distribution companies provide free of cost power connections to families that are sitting Below the Poverty Line (or BPL Families), the union power minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday once again urged states to give “on demand” electricity connections to all consumers who are even above the Poverty Line (or APL Families). Speaking at the launch of the Garv-II mobile App for tracking rural electrification in real-time basis on Tuesday, Goyal said the aim is to give uninterrupted power to all people by 2019 and the pace of release of power connections should not take a hit due to any such distinction of a BPL/an APL family. The Minister said that the Government aims to achieve ‘24×7 Power for All’ and does not distinguish between BPL and APL households. States, he said should give on demand power connections to all including APL and BPL families. He urged State governments to determine an average price for electricity connections for APL (Above Poverty Line) families across the State so that they can be given electricity connections through the option of paying by easy monthly instalments (EMIs). “I have asked all states to provide power connections to APL consumers on demand with the facility of EMI. We are ready to provide funds for the purpose through Power Finance Corp and Rural Electrification Corp for the purpose,” Goyal said, Admitting that there is a lot of work to be done in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for providing electricity to all in the states Goyal said: “Because of this (transparency on GARV app) the village got the power by 4 pm.” According to the GARV-II data, rural electrification programme needs to be stepped up in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand where 47 per cent, 45 per cent and 30 per cent rural households are electrified. At present 70.51 per cent or 12.38 crore rural households are electrified in the country out of 17.57 crore families living in villages in the country. Some of the states where all rural families have access to electricity include Gujarat, Goa, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. The minister said putting rural electrification data in public domain will improve the efficacy of the programme and keep centre as well as state implementing agencies on toes and consumer will be benefited. Victor Rask Womens Jersey

Goyal Launches Citizen Engagement Window `SAMVAD’ As Part of Mobile App Garv II

While Launching the Garv-II mobile App for tracking rural electrification in real-time basis on Tuesday, Union minister of state for power, coal, mines and RE, Piyush Goyal also unveiled the Citizen Engagement Window ‘SAMVAD’ which has been created to enhance participation of public at large. GARV-II also has a citizen engagement window ‘SAMVAD’to enhance participation. People can contribute in the programme by providing their feedback and suggestions which shall be automatically forwarded to the concerned Managing Directors and Superintending Engineers of DISCOMs through SMS & Email on their dashboard. During the Garv-II launch event, the Minister presented awards to the best performing GVAs as well as the Digital India Award 2016 to GARV for featuring in the Top 3 best Apps that have played a pioneering role in bringing Good Governance in the country. Goyal Launches Citizen Engagement Window `SAMVAD’ As Part of Mobile App Garv II While Launching the Garv-II mobile App for tracking rural electrification in real-time basis on Tuesday, Union minister of state for power, coal, mines and RE, Piyush Goyal also unveiled the Citizen Engagement Window ‘SAMVAD’ which has been created to enhance participation of public at large. SAMVAD is part of the GARV-II mobile App and is aimed at enhancing citizen engagement. People can contribute in the programme by providing their feedback and suggestions which shall be automatically forwarded to the concerned Managing Directors and Superintending Engineers of DISCOMs through SMS & Email on their dashboard. During the Garv-II launch event, the Minister presented awards to the best performing GVAsas well as the Digital India Award 2016 to GARV for featuring in the Top 3 best Apps that have played a pioneering role in bringing Good Governance in the country. Over 400 GVAs from 19 States,who interacted with the Minister. State Power Secretaries from 29 States were also connected through video conferencing.

Empowering the Grid to meet Challenges of 24×7 Power To All

Government of India has set a vision of ‘24X7 Power for all’. To realize this vision, Ministry of Power, along with other central agencies, has put special focus on efficient utilization of conventional generation resources and development of 175 GW renewable capacity by 2022. All Central & State Government agencies along with private sector organizations are geared up to develop electricity infrastructure in the country. Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal, shall be presiding over an event, ‘Empowering the Grid to meet Future Challenges’ in New Delhi on 21st December 2016. The event would be organized by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL), under the auspices of Ministry of Power.For optimum use of resources, a strong National Grid has been evolved and a number of high capacity power transmission corridors have been developed to facilitate seamless power transfer from surplus regions to deficit areas. During the event, Goyal would be releasing 3 reports viz., ‘Renewable Energy Integration: Transmission, an Enabler’ and ‘Green Energy Corridors – II’ and ‘Electricity Demand Pattern Analysis’. The first two reports, prepared by PGCIL, cover aspects of comprehensive transmission plan to integrate renewable energy sources into the National Grid and role of Transmission as an Enabler in growing Renewable Energy (RE) penetration scenario. The last report has been prepared by Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO). The ‘Renewable Energy Integration: Transmission, an Enabler’ report covers the study of balancing and stability issues for 15% & 30% RE capacity penetration and the aspects of Balancing Reserve Analysis with Thermal Power Plants, both gas and supercritical coal, Reservoir type Hydro & Pumped Storage Plants and the Way forward. The ‘Green Energy Corridors-II’ (Part-A) report details about the identified capacity of Solar Parks and transmission infrastructure requirement in various states at Intra-State and Inter-state level. It inter-alia covers the financing options available for rationalization of transmission tariff and the challenges to be addressed to facilitate smooth integration of solar power parks. The ‘Electricity Demand Pattern Analysis’ report covers the analysis of data archived by POSOCO since 2008 with insights towards diurnal, seasonal and yearly demand patterns, decomposition of demand data into seasonal trends at all levels – National, regional and individual State level. The Demand Pattern Analysis may be used by Central and state level planning agencies for Generation, transmission and distribution planning, Identification of areas/sectors with maximum growth and Behavioral pattern of the population residing in that state/ region. It can also be used as valuable input for research by the academia and the industry. Goyal would also be launching ‘Coal Mitra’ – a Web portal for Flexibility in Utilization of Domestic Coal, during the event. The event is expected to be attended by State Energy Secretaries, Head of State Utilities, officials from International Financing Agencies, various CPSE’s, private sector and other Statutory bodies along with Media and Analysts. Taylor Hall Jersey

Piyush Goyal bats for transparency in village lighting

Rural households having no electricity connection despite their village having connected to the grid will now be able to register complaints directly to central and state authorities through a mobile phone application. The application, GARV II launched by Union power minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday will also in the near future give out to the public all details of the electrification contracts given to private players including the work assigned, cost and the deadline in a bid to increase transparency in the government’s village electrification programme and check apathy by local officials. “For places where Internet facilities are not available, information regarding rural electrification projects such as contractor’s name, amount sanctioned by the government and deadline have to be displayed on the working sites in villages,” Goyal said, adding that this will help in better monitoring of the work. The minister said the application provides data on the progress of electrification in 600,000 villages with 170 million people, unlike its earlier version that gave data on only 18,452 villages identified in April, 2015 for electrification. State governments consider every grid-connected village as electrified, even if there is a lack of last mile connectivity. GARV II seeks to address this. Dinesh Arora, executive director of Rural Electrification Corp. (REC) in-charge of the village lighting programme said that a complaint filed through the mobile application will go to state authorities concerned and will alert the central government authorities. “If the complaint is not resolved within a specified period, the system will throw up alerts,” explained Arora. Under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), so far, 61% of the 18,452 villages identified in April, 2015 have been connected to the grid. The focus now is to make sure every household gets access to power. Goyal urged states to make sure that all households whether belonging to below poverty line or not, get access to power. While the poor gets free connections, the minister said that those above poverty line could pay the initial cost in instalments with financial help from central utilities like REC. Carlos Martinez Authentic Jersey

GMR seeks Rs 8545 cr power project debt recast, Axis lead bank

GMR Infrastructure Ltd has approached Axis Bank and 16 other lenders for strategic recast of the Rs 8545.85 crore debt of its special purpose vehicle operating the 1,370 MW thermal power plant at Raikheda in Chhattisgarh, an official familiar with the development told Moneycontrol. The project, comprising two units of 685 MW each, was delayed by two years, the commissioning of the project finally happening on March 31 this year. The plant has been plagued by cost overruns, delay in commissioning and lower load flood factor resulting in weak cash flows. This has stretched the start date of the repayment of interest, now expected to start only in February. A questionnaire on the matter e-mailed to GMR remained unanswered. The SPV — GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Ltd — is a fully-owned subsidiary of GMR Energy Ltd, the power sector arm of the Delhi-headquartered infrastructure major. The recast will result in the lenders converting part of the company’s debt into equity and the promoters giving up majority stake in the subsidiary, the official said. GMR has appointed SBI Capital Market Services Ltd as advisor on the debt restructuring plan. “SBI Caps is now preparing the corrective action plan. If all parties finally agree on implementing the scheme, the lenders will have to find a buyer within 18 months of taking over the project,” the official said. Including cost overruns, the total project cost has ballooned to Rs 11,561 crore, significantly higher than Rs 8,290 crore that were budgeted first. Power Finance Corp Ltd followed Axis in disbursing the largest amount to the project. Axis Bank gave the company Rs 1,092 crores in fund and non-fund-based lending. PFC lent Rs 1,090 crores for the project. Besides Axis and PFC, Bank of India, IIFCL UK and Life Insurance Corp of India Ltd are the other names in a list of 17 that have lent to the project. Bank of India has lent Rs 769.73 crores, IIFCL UK $101 mln and LIC Rs 481 crores. The company doesn’t have a long term power purchase pact for the plant yet, he said. While the project is now commissioned, the tough part now is to make it viable for the long-term. The company has two captive coal mines to fuel the project – Talabira-I and Ganeshpur. According to the official, something was that also pointed out earlier by rating agency ICRA Ltd, reserves of Talabira-I coal mine will be able to keep the plant running for not more than two years from now. In such a scenario, GMR has to start mining operations at Ganeshpur. The promoters have so far put in Rs 2,720 crore as equity with the power plant still needing equity of Rs 114 crore and the associated coal mine blocks requiring another Rs 94 crore, the official said. “Only on strength of Talabira, they can’t operate the plant and it is unlikely GMR will be able to start mining at Ganeshpur as it gave a negative bid for the mine when the auctions were conducted in 2015. This means it agreed to pay to the government for mining. If that doesn’t happen, the company’s bank guarantee of Rs 295 crore will be forfeited,” the official said. Jaron Brown Womens Jersey

Govt readying to set up hydel project in elephant corridor

The state government is gearing up to set up a mini hydel project next to the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, an elephant corridor, even as cases of jumbos straying out of forest areas in search of water and food and getting killed are on the rise. The proposed mini-hydel project will violate the directions issued by the Karnataka High Court in 2008 that no projects can come up in and around elephant corridors. Taking suo motu action to ensure that there is no destruction of elephant corridors, the court had formed the elephant task force. The proposed project near Gaganachukki-Bharachukki waterfalls in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district was opposed by several agencies in the past. However, the government now seems to be keen on reviving the proposal. It recently asked senior officials of Forest department to visit the proposed project spot and submit a report. Under ‘pressure from political bosses,’ a team visited the area. The project is just 200 metres from the waterfalls. “Based on the recommendations of the state government, a committee comprising Principal Chief Conservator of Forests P Suresh and B J Hosmath and other senior officials visited the place. The committee members were directed to visit the location and submit a project feasibility report,” a Forest department official told DH. “The committee has inspected the place. It will hold a meeting in three to four days. Based on the recommendations made at the meeting, a report will be prepared and submitted to the government,” the official added. “It is unfortunate that when there is water crisis in Karnataka and, man-animal conflicts are increasing, the government is pressing for power generation projects on forest borders. Increasing urbanisation has led to the death of three elephants on the outskirts of Bengaluru in the last 10 days,’’ an official said. The project, experts opine, will not only lead to further depletion of water table but also curtail water supply to Bengaluru. In the past, the hydel project had met with opposition from many quarters, including the State Wildlife Board. Cricketer and former vice chairman of Wildlife Board Anil Kumble had rejected the government’s proposal. Kumble is still a member of the board. The board had also pointed that the project will lead to man-elephant conflict. In 2015, the secretary, Forest department, too had opposed the project stating that it will destruct wildlife habitat. In September 2016, a wildlife board meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too had refused to give permission for the project. Jameis Winston Womens Jersey

Power discom DHBVN registers Rs 78 crore profit for first time

Power distribution company Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has recorded a profit for first time ever since its inception in July 1999. From losses of more than ? 2,088 crore in 2014, the discom registered a profit of ?78 crore in the first half of the current financial year. Now, DHBVN officials aim to double the profit by the end of current financial year. In comparison, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has reported a loss of ?1,233 crore in the first half of financial year 2016-17 against a loss of ?336 crore in the last financial year, reported an analysis by Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC). DHBVN has been reeling under losses worth crores ever since it was created along with UHBVN and two corporations – Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam and Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGC). DHBVN supplies power to 11 districts of southern Haryana and has always recorded losses worth ?2,000 crore or more due to electricity theft, non-payment of dues, transmission and distribution losses and increasing fuel surcharge. A half-yearly analysis by REC, under Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY), has revealed that DHBVN reported a remarkable achievement with a turnaround from losses as steep as ?471 crore in last financial year to a profit of more than ?78 crore. The review was conducted to ascertain the progress of various major operational and financial indicators as per UDAY on the basis of data submitted by discoms and visits by UDAY teams. The analysis report, released early this month, pointed out that the state incurred a loss of ?815 crore in financial year 2015-16 for both discoms combined and gave a loss projection of ?2,911 crore and ?1,878 crore for 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively. The review commended DHVBN for turnaround from loss to profit. “We focused on replacing old and defective electric meters, placing meters outside buildings, meter sealing, check on thefts, increasing number of feeders, recovery of pending amounts and controlling transmission and distribution losses through various means. We hope to double the profit by the end of this financial year,” said Arun Kumar Verma, managing director, DHBVN. REC also observed that DHBVN has improved on billing efficiency and reduced aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses while UHBVN is falling short on this front as well. In its review, the REC observed that a major cause of concern in Haryana was high average cost of supply (ACS) that is ?8.37 per unit in current financial year as against the national average of ?6.66 per unit. The analysis observed high incidents of electricity theft in the state as the cost of energy not billed (energy lost) is ?1.85 per unit.

DERC seeks opinion on revising charges for migrating customers

In the draft order issued this week for consumers opting for open access, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has modified various charges. These include subsidy charge, wheeling and transmission charges, and additional surcharge. This revision will benefit those who wish to source power from another distribution utility than those operating in their jurisdiction. Consumers, discoms and expert bodies have been asked to submit their suggestions on the draft by January 20. The draft aims to ensure that low-end consumers do not get burdened with higher tariff on account of high-end consumers opting out of their network. Hence, all those opting out would be paying some charges to the home discom for crosssubsidising domestic consumers. The charges payable to Delhi discoms differ as per category and the discom. For Tata Power Delhi, industrial consumers will pay approximately 165 paise/unit, DMRC 136 paise/unit and domestic consumers 5-11 paise/unit as cross subsidy charges. For BRPL, the charges are about 166 paise/unit for industrial consumers, while DIAL and DJB would pay about 166-183 paise/unit. Industrial consumers under BYPL have to pay up to 175 paise /unit, non-domestic 199 paise /unit and DMRC and DJB up to 187 paise/ unit. The order also mentions various unresolved issues that have not been addressed in previous orders, including, revision of 1MW cap for open access, provision for seeking open access for varied quantum during the day, lack of provisions to provide compensation to consumers who are unable to draw power due to failure of distribution network and no provision for imposing penalty on violators. For the period an open access customer does not have supply, distributors will have to compensate him at the lowest average rate he pays for that period. DERC also makes it clear that a discom can’t resort to load shedding of its existing consumers to provide the migrated ones. As per the national tariff policy, open access has to be encouraged to bring more competition in the power sector and end monopoly of the private discoms. The computation of crosssubsidy surcharge needs to be done in a manner that while it compensates the distribution licensee, it does not constrain competition through open access. Justin Abdelkader Womens Jersey

Thermal power plants’ capacity utilisation to drop to 48% by 2022

All coal-based thermal power plants need to brace for a drastic fall in capacity utilisation to as low as 48% by 2022, as additional non-thermal electricity generation capacities come on stream, the Central Electricity Authority has warned. At that level of utilisation, they may lose the ability to run at a technically viable level and might find it extremely difficult to service debts turning into non-preforming assets for lenders. The CEA, in its Draft National Electricity Plan, has predicted that by 2022 many plants may get partial or no schedule of generation at all meaning that many of these thermal power plants may have to be kept idle for lack of demand. According to the CEA, the expected installed capacity from different fuel types at the end of 2021-22 in base case works out to 523 gigawatts, including 50 GW of coal-based capacity currently under construction. “In order to accommodate high quantum of renewable energy into the grid, thermal plants are likely to run at low plant load factor (capacity utilisation) in future,” it said. In fact, it suggested that a market mechanism through regulatory intervention needs to be evolved so that the owners of thermal plants are able to recoup the investment and, at the same time, customers are not unnecessarily burdened with high tariff. “Technical viability of plants goes for a toss if they run under 55% capacity utilisation — a fact which is recognised by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. It is detrimental for the plant boilers and leads to drastic reduction in plant life,” said Ashok Khurana, secretarygeneral of the Association of Power Producers. “These plants are designed to run at very high capacity utilisation, around 85%. When they run, much below the full load, it consumes more coal, leading to under-recovery of energy charges, as regulations do not provide for this.” Plants without power purchase agreement are in for trouble, said Sabyasachi Majumdar, senior vice president at ICRA Ratings. “Reduction in capacity utilisation leads to a decline in revenue income for the plant. At less than 60% capacity utilisation, the margin, which would otherwise provide for operating costs including interest cost, other than coal costs, would get wiped off. These plants are headed for trouble.” As of October 2016, the national capacity utilisation for these units declined to 60% against 67% a year earlier. Utilisation of plants used to be around 80% in 2007-08. Seth Joyner Jersey

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