Guj govt paid almost Rs 30,000 crore fixed cost charges to discoms, spent nearly Rs 40,000 crore to buy power: Minister Kanubhai Desai
Fixed cost charges are paid to a power plant even if power is not purchased by the government but the plant is ready to supply, explained Gujarat Power Minister Kanubhai Desai.
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Gujarat Power Minister Kanubhai Desai. (Express photo/File)The Gujarat government paid nearly Rs 30,000 crore as fixed cost charges to 15 power supply companies in the year 2022 and 2023, Gujarat Power Minister Kanubhai Desai submitted on the Assembly floor on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Gujarat bought electricity from more private companies in 2023 than it did in 2022, data tabled in the Assembly shows.
The Gujarat government paid Rs 14,058 crore in 2022 and has provisionally paid Rs 15,065 crores in 2023 to 15 power companies as fixed cost charges. Fixed cost charges are paid to a power plant even if power is not purchased by the government but the plant is ready to supply.
Thus, a total of Rs 29,123 crore has been paid to the 15 companies as fixed cost charges. Desai added that Gujarat produces 5,000 MW of power against the requirement of 24,000 MW.
The submission came in response to a question by Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar.
Responding to Parmar’s further questions as to why fixed cost charges were paid despite not purchasing power, Desai told the House that this is as per the National Tariff Policy, the directives of the Electricity Regulatory Commission and the provisions of the power purchase agreement with thermal power producers. The rules require fixed cost charges to be paid for operation and maintenance of the power plants and for keeping the plant ready to meet the power demand.
“When a power station declares its availability for power generation, a fixed cost becomes payable to it for this availability as per the terms of the power purchase agreement, whether or not power is obtained from it,” said Desai. If the plant is not available for power generation, a penalty is also levied as per the terms of the PPAs, added Desai.
Meanwhile, responding to questions posed by several Congress MLAs on power purchased from private companies in the past two years, data tabled in the Assembly shows that in 2022, Gujarat purchased 39,826 million units (MU) of power from 804 private companies with which Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam (GUVNL) has purchase power agreements (PPAs).
The figure went up to 41,513 MU of power from 919 private companies in 2023 (provisional figures for year 2023). The average rate of purchasing power in 2022 was Rs 5.25 against Rs 4.75 in 2023. In 2022, the Gujarat government paid Rs 20,898 crore to purchase power and Rs 19,736 crore in 2023.
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