Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) held an emergency meeting on October 9, 2021, in the wake of the current coal supply crisis. The regulator also extended fiscal relief to the power discoms.
In light of the current crisis due to shortage of coal to Central power generating stations which has resulted in shortage of power from long-term sources, as per allocation, DERC held an emergency review meeting on October 9, 2021, to protect the interest of consumers and also of the four operating discoms – NDMC, BYPL, BRPL and TP-DDL.
As interim measure, DERC has relaxed the following, until further notice:
- Additional UI (unscheduled interchange) charges and Sustain Deviation charges as a pass-through in power purchase cost
- Exemption in seeking prior approval for banking and bilateral contracts
- Exemption for non-intimation and non-consideration of the procured above Rs.5 per kwh for computing restriction in impact of such purchase on total short term power purchase not exceeding Rs.0.10 per kwh, for FY22 true-up.
Missive to power ministry
DERC has also written to the Union power ministry requesting urgent intervention for facilitating adequate supply of fuel (coal) to power plants in order to avoid any outage so as to maintain continuous supply of power to Delhi.
Directive to IPGCL
DERC has issued an interim order, directing Indraprastha Power Generation Co Ltd (IPGCL) to declare availability of its 270-mw gas-turbine power station (GTPS) on gas procured under administered price mechanism (APM) or any other available fuel, till further orders. (It is independently learnt by T&D India that the GTPS is currently kept on stand-by and is run on liquid-fuel, whenever needed.)
Also read: Prepaid Metering Can Definitely Boost Collection Efficiency Of Discoms: Tata Power
Hydropower scheduling
The four Delhi discoms have PPAs to the tune of 724 mw from hydropower plants. However, these are not utilized to the maximum, DERC observed. In view of the current coal shortage, DERC has advised Delhi discoms to maximize scheduling from hydropower, gas, renewable and nuclear power plants.
Note: The four discoms abbreviated in this story are New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL), BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TP-DDL).
(Featured photograph shows a grid substation of TP-DDL)
