Sasan: State goes to SC against APTEL decision

Bhopal: The state government has moved the Supreme Court against the decision of Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL), which decided in favour of power producer on March 31 this year and approved its claim that Unit 3 of Sasan UMPP started commercial operations on March 31, 2013.
APTEL's decision is likely to cost Rs 438 crore to the state government.
The move came after TOI highlighted the issue that Madhya Pradesh will have to pay more than Rs 400 crore to Reliance's Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) after its plea was turned down by the appellate body.
"We have filed an appeal in the SC last week and we have made an application for stay on orders of the APTEL," principal secretary, power ICP Keshari told TOI.
He said, "APTEL gave its decision on March 31 and there was a time of 60 days to appeal against its decision. We have filed the appeal in that duration."
On August 8, 2014, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission decided in favour of procurer states and ruled the claim of the power producer that the Unit 3 of the UMPP attained its commercial operations date on March 31, 2013 is not correct.
As per power purchase agreement between Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Limited and Sasan UMPP, the state agency will get power at a rate of 70 paise per unit for the first two years and then the rates will be revised to Rs 1.31 per unit from the third year of production.
"If March 31, 2013 is accepted as commercial operations date (COD), then the first year of power purchase will end on April 1, 2013 in a single day and from April 1, 2014, power tariff from Sasan will have to be calculated at Rs 1.31 per unit instead of 70 paise per unit,"said an official.
If the APTEL's decision is approved by the apex court, Sasan will get Rs 1,050 crore and of this, Rs 438 crore will have to be paid by Madhya Pradesh as it is the biggest procurer of power from Sasan UMPP.
Sasan UMPP is situated in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh and has six units producing 660 MW each.