Maha govt directs Tata Power to supply to R-Infra till 1 July
EB Bureau
The 2.8 million consumers of R-Infra from suburban Mumbai can now have a sigh of relief as Maharashtra government’s cabinet sub committee on infrastructure headed by chief minister Ashok Chavan has directed Tata Power to continue supply of 400 Mw of power to R-Infra till 1 July.
And R-Infra was categorically told, it is its responsibility to source power for its licences area and it can’t ask for state government to intervene every now and then, said senior official from state government’s energy ministry.
While Tata Power’s spokesperson could not be contacted for its comment on government’s decision, R-Infra spokesman expressed inability to give comment as there was no official announcement from the government.
However government is yet to decide whether to issue directives to both these companies under section 11 of the Electricity Act 2003 or ask the state power regulator MERC under section 108 of the act to issue necessary directives to both the company, official said.
It may be recalled, on 31 March Tata Power was given directives by the state government to continue to supply 500 Mw of power to R-Infra till further orders who had issued a notice to R-Infra to snap the power from 1 April 2010 onwards.
The government has constituted a committee of secretaries under chairmanship of chief secretary J P Dange to look into the mattee, which submitted its report in the last week of April. R-Infra told the committee, government should direct Tata Power to continue to supply 500 Mw indefinitely as it claimed Tata Power’s generation capacity is build through equity contributed by Mumbai consumers and it is meant to be used for Mumbai consumers and should’nt be sold outside Mumbai. It also claimed, Tata Power is wrongly interpreting the Supreme Court’s order which upheld MERC’s earlier order. The MERC had refused to give directives to Tata Power to sell power R-Infra as generation sector has been deregulated as per the provisions of the Electricity Act 2003.
Tata Power made a representation to the committee and conveyed its both inability and unwillingness to supply power to R-Infra. They informed the committee that out of 500 Mw it has contracted 100 Mw to the BEST which supplies power to island city. Another 160 Mw it needs to cater 30,000 customers, who have switched from R-Infra and rest of the power it will require for additional customers who will switch from R-Infra during the course of year.
The subcommittee has been unanimous that MERC would be requested to immediately proceed with necessary steps under the various provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, to ensure public interest is protected.
