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Maharashtra may resume buying DPC power

Hopes of the bankrupt Dabhol Power Company's revival have brightened with the Maharashtra government expressing its willingness to resume the offtake of power from the idle project's 740MW first phase at a price of not more than Rs 2.50 per unit and a plant load factor of 60 per cent for five years.

"The government has prepared a draft," a senior state government said on Sunday, "which will soon be submitted to the Industrial Development Bank of India, outlining the [Maharashtra] State Electricity Board's conditions to be met before it resumes drawal of power from the first phase."

"MSEB will take power for a period of five years only at a rate of Rs 2.50 per unit and not a single paise more," he added.

The draft, which is being jointly prepared by the state energy department and the MSEB, also demands that a new power purchase agreement be signed with the 'power producer', which could be any authority that operates or owns the plant.

It also makes the loss-making board's stand crystal clear, that it will by no means associate itself with the incomplete 1,444MW second phase of the project.

"Almost a year ago, MSEB rescinded its PPA (power purchase agreement) with DPC," the official argued. "So a new PPA is mandatory, which would of course be placed before the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission for approval. Then, after completion of public hearings and other legal formalities, the offtake from phase one could begin."

PTI

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