New Delhi: Escalating the confrontation with Delhi Government, BSES discoms yesterday asked it to take over the control of selling surplus power in the city and rejecting any wrongdoing in the matter.
In a letter to the government, BSES discoms rejected allegations that they were buying “excess” power and selling it at a low price, thereby reporting huge losses and resulting in an unwarranted tariff burden on consumers.
Both BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, which supply power in 70 per cent areas of Delhi, have been unhappy with the government following order of CAG audit of all the private power distribution companies.
“In the interests of transparency and to avoid such baseless allegations and unnecessary controversy, the BSES discoms hereby request the government to take over the entire responsibility for ensuring adequate power,” the letter written by BRPL CEO Gopal Saxena said.
As the demand comes down during the off-peak hours such as in the morning and afternoon, the private discoms sell the excess power through power exchange or directly to the neighbouring states.
The AAP has been alleging irregularities in sell of excess power by BSES discoms.
In 2010, then chairman of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) Bijender Singh had said that the discoms can make a profit of Rs 3,577 crore per year through the sell of such “surplus” power.
“We look forward to your confirmation of Delhi Government accepting our request with immediate effect for sell of such off-peak power, and we will extend all possible cooperation to facilitate the realisation of the highest sell price,” the letter said.
It said to ensure that consumers of Delhi are provided reliable power supply, the BSES discoms procure adequate power to cater to the peak demand under Long Term Power Purchase Agreements.
The discoms said the LTPPA were executed by the erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board under Delhi government and were assigned to the BSES discoms by DERC in the year 2007.
“In other words, the BSES discoms are not responsible for the terms and conditions, pricing of such PPAs,” the letter said.
Last week the BSES discoms had rejected allegations that they did not pass on financial benefit on account of bringing down AT&C losses to consumers, claiming it was negated by rise in power purchase cost.
Aggregate Technical and Commercial Loss (AT&C) loss indicates technical as well as commercial losses in the power distribution and transmission network.
CEOs of BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) had told the government that increase in power purchase cost by over 300 per cent over past 10 years has fully negated benefits of AT&C loss reduction and created a deficit of over Rs 8,000 crores.
