CHENNAI: The Tamil Power Distribution Corporation (TNPDCL) has signed agreements to procure the costliest power the discom has ever purchased, to overcome the shortage between the availability and demand for the rest of the month.The state power utility has finalised deals for 1,500 megawatts (MW) of round-the-clock power supply from Oct 12 to 31 at the rate of Rs 31.99 to Rs 34.49 per unit. The power to the quantum of 2000 MW to be procured to meet the evening surge in demand from 6pm to midnight will cost between Rs 33.37 and Rs 37 per unit.No other state has signed agreements at this cost through the Union power ministry’s e-bidding portal called DEEP, though many state-owned and private discoms have floated tenders and have not finalised the deal.Andhra Pradesh Power Coordination Committee (APPCC) alone has finalised deals for 150MW for prices ranging from Rs 16 to Rs 20 for the same period. However, APPCC finalised the bids for October requirements on Sept 9, while TNPDCL invited bids for the period of Oct 12 to 31 just a week ago.TNPDCL officials said that they were forced to float the tenders in such a short notice because they thought the power demand would dip after Oct 10. “However, since the weather forecast is not clear when the northeast monsoon would set in, we anticipate the unprecedented demand to continue in the coming days and floated the short-term tenders,” said the official.TNPDCL has cited a shortage of nearly 4,000 MW due from central generating stations due to their mandatory scheduled annual maintenance as well as reduction in wind power generation as reasons necessitating the power purchase, while power demand has been unprecedented in October.While the peak power demand hovered around 17,000 MW in October last year and overall daily consumption was around 365 million units (Mu), the peak demand continues to touch 20,000 MW and while daily consumption is nearly 70 Mu more compared to last year.Meanwhile, another TNPDCL official pointed out such high-cost power agreements were signed because all the tied-up suppliers are gas-based plants instead of the conventional coal plants. “The coal power is not available in the market. But the positive point here is we can pay only for the power purchased and not for the entire signed quantum. The fixed charges are less than Re 1, so if the demand comes down and we don’t need the power from gas-based plants, we just need to pay the fixed charges. In coal-based plants, the fixed cost would be higher,” added the official.
