CERC asks states to respond in 4 weeks on Parekh Committee report

NEW DELHI: Power regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has asked states to respond on a recommendation to hike tariff for power supplied from imported coal based projects of Tata Power and Adani Power at Mundra, Gujarat in four weeks.

The regulator has asked five power distribution utilities of Maharasthra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab to submit their report by the fourth week. The recommendation to hike tariff of Tata Power's Mundra ultra mega power project by 45-55 paise per unit and Adani Power's tariff by upto 60 paise per mw, was made by a panel headed by Deepak Parekh.

The panel, appointed by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission to suggest tariff hike for the two 4,000-mw projects of Tata Power and Adani Power, submitted its separate reports on the two projects on August 16.

The report has suggested linking the tariffs to global coal prices and the revenue generated from the coal mines that have been bought by the two companies to run the power plants. CERC had in April this year allowed Tata Power and Adani Power to pass on high imported coal costs to consumers. The regulator had appointed the Parekh committee to evaluate a compensatory tariff mechanism.

Tata Power and Adani Power had sought tariff escalation for power citing increasing cost of imported coal from Indonesia since last year. Tata Power and Adani Power claimed annual loss of Rs 1,600 crore and Rs 1,370 crore respectively by running their plants.