Four States want Enron power at cheaper rates

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, JULY 26. Representatives of four States - Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi and Punjab - today met the Madhav Godbole Committee with offers to buy power from the Dabhol Power Company but their expectation of price and the quantum they can pick up was far too low to be considered in the on-going exercise to ease the financial pressure on the Maharashtra Government.

After meeting the representatives, Dr. Godbole, who is re- negotiating the price with the independent power producer on behalf of the State Government, conceded that with the inputs, he ``can make only partial progress'' in the next round of talks with the DPC tomorrow. The profile of his talks was unlikely to impress the company, Dr. Godbole said adding that today's work was `preliminary' in nature.

Not all the States which agreed to meet the committee turned up today and the exercise was limited to gauging the demand from those States which turned up. Except for Madhya Pradesh and Punjab which offered to pick up about up to 200 MW as a base load requirement, the others wanted seasonal shortfalls in their grid to be met. The prices suggested by all of them is mostly within the cost of pooled power from the National Thermal Power Corporation.

Karnataka's Power Transmission Corporation chief, Mr. V. P. Baligar told The Hindu after meeting the committee that the State ``can pick up only 300 MW but only during the high demand season between January and May and at prices which are competitive.'' He pegged it at around Rs. 2.85 a unit plus transmission costs and losses en route. There would be no escrows but only letters of credit to the DPC. Delhi wants power from next year.

Even the total requirement of these four States substantially falls short of the 1,444 MW Phase I of the DPC project which Maharashtra is committed ``not to buy under any circumstances,'' as Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, Chief Minister has said. Besides, not all the power the States want to buy is on the `base load' basis. According to Dr. Godbole there were three considerations: the quantum, the price and whether the demand is for base load supply or for meeting ``peaking'' requirements.

It is here that the efforts to match its concerns with that of the DPC runs aground and the exercise has the potential to flounder further if carried on. But sources say that if potential ``buyers quote lower prices, it is because we are at the starting point. We will have to whittle down DPC's tariff and seek a more reasonable price from other buyers.''

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Section  : National
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