Vijayawada: Discoms told to ensure adequate coal stocks

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) directed the power distribution companies (discoms) to take all necessary steps to ensure sufficient coal stocks as per the norms at APGenco /SDSTPS thermal power plants immediately to reduce dependence on exchanges or markets as the prices there are volatile, and based on the existing trend, they are likely to increase further.

The commission in a statement on Friday said in that dependency on the exchanges/markets will impose additional financial burden on the discoms and ultimately on the consumers when power from state-run thermal power plants having lesser variable costs could not be supplied due to insufficient coal stocks.

The commission granted approval to the discoms to procure 400 MWs & 390 MWs RTC (round-the-clock) power only during February and March 2022 respectively. The discoms are permitted to award Letters of Intent (LOI) to the successful bidders for the above quantum and period and enter into necessary short-term supply agreements with them. The discoms are directed to submit copies of these agreements to the commission within one week of entering into them with the successful bidders

The commission stated that APERC will not accept the bids for RTC power in April and May 2022 and evening peak power in all the months ( February to May this year) due to the higher prices quoted by the bidders. APERC also stated that the proposal for January is infructuous due to the delay in bids finalisation by the discoms.

The discoms requested the commission's approval for procurement of energy of 15.3 MUs per day i.e., 400 MW round-the-clock and 950 MW during evening peak hours.

After examining the request, the commission permitted them to float the bids with a direction to place before the commission the details of the quantum of power offered and prices discovered in the DEEP e-bidding portal and the quantum of power they propose to procure, without awarding the LOI to the bidders. APSPDCL submitted the details of all the bids received and the power the discoms propose to procure.