Rajiv Ranjan Singh l Mumbai
Tata Power Co posted a loss of Rs329 crore for the quarter ended December as against a profit of Rs298 crore as it took a impairment charge of `600 crore and a forex hit of `86 crore.
The impairment charge is on account of its 4,000 mw Mundra ultra mega power plant, where it is not able to pass on higher imported coal prices to consumers, analysts said.
The company has already taken an impairment charge of Rs850 crore in the first nine months of this fiscal.
The December quarter forex loss was for fourth time in the last six quarters.
Tata Power won the Mundra project by quoting a leveralised tariff of Rs2.26 per unit for next 25 years in which escalable tariff portion (which allows pass through fuel cost) is low.
The company booked impairment losses of Rs1,800 crore in fiscal 2012 as international coal prices went up to $120 a tonne.
Though it has now come down 25% to $90 per tonne now, the company is not benefiting as it not allowed a higher fuel cost pass-through. The company had deal to procure coal at $34 a tonne from two mines in Indonesia, in which it holds 30% stake. However, the Indonesian government last year linked coal prices in that country with international prices, significantly escalating Tata Power’s coal bill.
In the December quarter, the cost of realisation from Mundra UMPP stood at `2.45 per unit, while the fuel cost was Rs2 per unit and fixed charge Rs0.90. making an under-recovery of 45 paise per unit. Mundra UMPP posted a gross generation of 3,573 million units and worked at a plant load factor of 51%.
For Mundra, Tata Power had signed power purchase agreement to sell power to five states-- Haryana (400 mw), Gujarat (1,900 mw), Maharashtra (800 mw), Punjab (500 mw) and Rajasthan (400 mw).
