Petition No. 1052 of 2015
BEFORE
THE UTTAR PRADESH ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION
LUCKNOW
Date of Order: 20.06.2017
PRESENT:
1. Hon’ble Sri Desh Deepak Verma, Chairman
2. Hon’ble Sri S.K. Agarwal, Member
IN THE MATTER OF: For payments of bills for the month of April, May & July, 2011.
AND
IN THE MATTER OF
M/s Dhampur Sugar Mills Ltd.
Dhampur, District Bijnore, U.P.
(i) Dharmpur Unit at Bijnore.
(ii) Asmoli Unit at Sambhal
------Petitioner
AND
1. UPPCL
14th Floor, Shakti Bhawan Extn.,
Lucknow
2. Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd.
Victoria Park, Meeut
Through its Managing Director.
3. Chief Engineer (Power System)
State Load Dispatch Centre,
U.P. Power Transmission Corporation Ltd.,
Shakti Bhawan, Ashok Marg,
Lucknow
4. Superintending Engineer,
Import-Export & Payment Circle,
U.P. Power Corporation Ltd.,
Shakti Bhawan, Ashok Marg,
Lucknow
5. Chief Engineer
Directorate of Power Purchase Agreement
U.P. Power Corporation Ltd.,
Shakti Bhawan, Ashok Marg,
Lucknow ------Respondents
Following were presents:
1. Sri P.N. Upadhyay,CE, UPSLDC
2. Sri Amarjeet Singh Rakhra, Counsel UPPCL
3. Sri Rahul Srivastava, Counsel UPSLDC
4. Sri Rakesh Kumar, GM, M/s Dhampur Sugar Mills Ltd
5. Sri D.D. Chopra, Advocate, M/s Dhampur Sugar Mills Ltd.
ORDER
(Date of Hearing 30.05.2017)
1. Petitioner, M/s Dhampur Sugar Mills Ltd., has bagasse based power plants of installed capacity of 97.5 MW ( 37.5 MW + 30 MW/phase-I + 30 MW /phase-II) at Dhampur wherein 47.5 MW being used for self-consumption and remaining 50 MW being tied-up with UPPCL under PPA dated 07.08.2006 . Further at petitioner’s Asmoli Unit, 42MW bagasse based power plant is installed and out of this 30MW is tied-up with UPPCL under PPA dated 07.04.2006.
2. Later on vide two separate Supplementary PPAs dated 23.05.2012 the contracted capacity under above PPAs were enhanced from 50MW to 60MW for Dhampur Unit and from 30MW to 40MW for Asmoli Unit with the condition that there shall be no change in tariff on account of enhancement of contracted capacities.
3. The petitioner has filed this petition to seek payment of bills for the month of April, May and July 2011 for Dhampur Unit and for the month of April and May 2011 for Asmoli Unit totaling Rs. 1.75 crore (LS).
4. Prelude
GoUP Energy Policy, 2009 has mandated to source competitive and reliable
bulk power from both within and outside the State. It has allowed Co-generators to increase the availability of power by optimization of generation of existing seasonal generating co-gen plants based on Bagasse or Biomass by allowing them to use alternative conventional fuel. As an incentive, the State has allowed 50% of the additional generation in off season to be sold anywhere under open access. Under this policy the co-generator has to use the available surplus land and ground water for additional generation and has to arrange the coal themselves.
The petitioner approached UPPCL to sell 50% power generated using coal during off-season from its 2X30 MW capacity at Dhampur and 1X30MW capacity at Asmoli under the provisions of above Energy Policy 2009 of GoUP. UPPCL gave in-principle consent to buy 22MW and 10MW of from Dhampur and Asmoli Unit respectively at tariff decided by UPERC.
Vide order dated 16.06.2010 while deciding the tariff for above plants using coal as fuel, the Commission took the view that the status of the generator for this power would be of an IPP and it would be subjected to Availability Based Tariff (ABT) and all functions, duties and obligations as provided for IPP shall apply.
5. During the earlier hearing the petitioner submitted that neither UPPCL paid aforesaid bills nor gave any reason for non-payment of same.
6. UPPCL has submitted that the above bills are for the power which is beyond the given schedule hence are not liable to be paid. Otherwise, petitioner’s bills for the month of April, May and July 2011 prepared in-line with the approved Schedule have been paid.
7. The petitioner has also agreed that the power supplied by him was beyond their schedule but maintained that owing to their small size Units it is not possible for them to run Units at partial load. And thus again prayed that bills must be entertained.
8. The petitioner has also submitted copy of letter of CE PPA dated 09.09.2011 addressed to the petitioner wherein UPPCL consented to pay for unscheduled coal based power considering the technical problems of the petitioner on the basis of MRI/JMR at the rate determined by the Commission. But, later no payment was made by UPPCL.
Further, the petitioner has also cited the letter of CE PPA date 08.09.2011 addressed to M/s Rana Sugars Ltd. wherein it was consented by UPPCL that for period from 10.06.2011 to 30.06.2011 for which schedule was not accepted by SLDC, UPPCL shall pay for unscheduled coal based power on the basis of MRI/JMR at the rate determined by the Commission. For the period from 01.07.2011 to 15.07.2011, the power supplied shall be treated as bagasse based off-season power supplied under PPA dated 03.08.2006 and payment shall be made accordingly.
9. UPPCL vide their written submission dated 19.09.2016 maintained that in case of petitioner UPPCL specifically backed down supply of power to zero and same schedule was given by UPSLDC also, whereas in case of M/s Rana Sugars Ltd. no schedule as such was accepted by UPSLDC but later on UPPCL had consented to purchase power and make payment as mentioned earlier.
10. Considering all the above, the Commission directed UPPCL to submit their comments on following points:
i. Why UPPCL vide their aforementioned letter agreed to pay for supply of power for period between 10.06.2011 to 15.07.2011 by M/s Rana at two different tariff rates despite the fact that source of power was same during the entire period.
ii. Why units of M/s Dhampur were specifically backed down whereas the schedule of other generator M/s Rana was accepted post facto.
iii. The details of total supply taken from various sources when M/s Dhampur was denied the schedule
11. UPPCL vide their reply dated 28.11 .2016 submitted that:
i. for period from 10.06.2011 to 30.06.2011, approval was granted by UPPCL on 28.06.2011 to procure power at Commission determined tariff. From 01.07.2011 to 15.07.2011 the power was still supplied by M/s Rana as M/s Rana had PPA for supplying upto 20 MW bagasse based power during off-season, the rate for bagasse based power were offered to them.
ii. UPPCL has PPA with M/s Rana for supply of power during season as well as off-season. Whereas in case of petitioner the PPA was for supply of power during season only. Thus M/s Rana was placed on better footing for supplying the power and UPPCL was under obligation to buy power from them. Thus, on 28.06.2011 ex-post facto approval for procurement was granted by UPPCL. Whereas in case of petitioner, there is no such obligation for UPPCL.
iii. in respect of details of total supply taken from various sources when M/s Dhampur was denied the schedule, the submission is made by UPSLDC on 21.03.2017.
12. The petitioner argued to be treated on same footing as M/s Rana Sugars. Whereas, UPPCL argued that no two PPAs can be treated on similar footing as each PPA has its own definite agreed terms and conditions which is also duly approved by the Commission.
13. After hearing the arguments of the petitioner and the respondent, the Commission is of the view that the case of M/s Rana cannot be any basis for granting parity with M/s Rana Sugar to the petitioner as the petitioner does not have the PPA for supply during off-season. As such, M/s Dhampur Sugar Mills, the petitioner cannot ask for payment at the rates approved by the Commission for coal based supply. However, as per the provision of Deviation Settlement Mechanism, they are entitled for payment at the U.I. rates pronounced by NRLDC for different time blocks on the dates on which the unscheduled power has been inducted by the petitioner.
The SLDC shall look into details of unscheduled supply by the petitioner and settle the payment as per the provision of Deviation Settlement Rules framed by CERC and applicable on all constituents.
14. The petition is disposed of.
(S.K. Agarwal) (Desh Deepak Verma)
Member Chairman
Place: Lucknow
Dated: 20.06.2017
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