Hyderabad: With the Hyderabad Metro Rail services all set to chug later this year, the TS Southern Power Distribution Company has finally created a separate category — High Tension-IX (HT-IX) category and proposes to sell power to HMR at Rs 7.08 per unit.
The new category has been created after much effort and intervention of the state government, which recently gave approval for creation of a separate category. Discom CMD G. Raghuma Reddy said that it has already gone for short-term PPAs spending crores of rupees to cater to the demand of 53 million units from HMR between October 2016 and March 2017. Short term purchase was also made for power requirements from other sectors too, he said. However, the HMR is not quite pleased with the tariff proposed, saying it is on the higher side.
HMR MD V.B. Gadgil said Rs 7.08 was against the provisions of Concession Agreement. “As per the commitment in the Agreement, power should be supplied to Metro Rail at cost of service — no profit-no loss basis,” he said.
L&T-HMRL representatives who filed a petition before Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) urging it to direct the Discom to honour the Concession Agreement provisions said the calculation of cost of power supply to metro rail actually works out to Rs 5.38 to Rs 5.42 per unit. “Even Delhi Metro Rail is being given power supply at no profit and no loss basis. This is mainly because the cost of electricity works out to nearly 35 per cent of the operational and maintenance cost of the metro rail system,” they said.
