The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) will on Friday take up BEST’s proposal to invite competitive bids to purchase power.
Nearly 10.18 lakh electricity consumers of the cash-strapped Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) can expect ample, reliable power at a lower cost. With its long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tata Power drawing to a close at the end of this fiscal, the civic undertaking has decided to buy power at competitive rates, thereby hoping to save Rs 900 crore for itself and Rs 1.5 per unit for its consumers.
The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) will on Friday take up BEST’s proposal to invite competitive bids to purchase power. After MERC’s nod, BEST is expected to float bids by September and close them by December.
Thereafter, MERC will approve the PPAs with successful bidders by March 31, 2018, when BEST’s agreement with Tata Power ends.
A highly placed BEST officer, who did not want to be named, told DNA, “BEST’s annual outgo towards power purchase is expected to come down to Rs 2,300 crore from the present level of Rs 3,200 crore, as the undertaking will be in a position to draw power from the market at Rs 3 per unit or even lower, instead of Rs 4 per unit which it currently pays to draw 800 MW from Tata Power. For the electricity consumers, per unit tariff could be lowered to around Rs 5.50 from the present level of Rs 7 per unit. This will also help BEST to increase its consumer base as Tata Power customers may want to shift to it to take advantage of lower tariffs.”
BEST’s daily requirement is close to 800 MW, and independent power producers with generation capacity of 3,650 MW in Maharashtra are desperately looking for electricity buyers. These include JSW Energy Ratnagiri (500 MW), Dhariwal (500 MW), Ideal (500 MW), Emco (250 MW) and Rattan India, Nashik (1300 MW ). NTPC may also participate in the bidding due to its idle capacity at Solapur power plant (600 MW).
Industry sources said the bidders may quote Rs 3 per unit or less in view of the present rates in the electricity market. The present rate on the power exchanges is around Rs 2.20 per unit, which has been prevalent for almost two years.
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