ERC says Andhra Pradesh can’t alter power pact
AP's request for cancellation of Power Purchase Agreements was rejected
Hyderabad: In what is a blow to Andhra Pradesh, its request for cancellation of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) was rejected by the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission on Thursday.
The commission, after considering the plea had said “The commission is unable to consider your request since it has not been made by the parties who filed the PPAs before the commission”. The AP Government has been saying that they have got less power allocation in comparison to Telangana and which was done on the basis of consumption.
To overcome the loss, the AP government had written to APERC on June 16, urging withdrawal of certain PPAs so that it could save nearly 460 mega watts of power for its use. This unilateral decision by the AP government led to a major controversy with the Telangana government opposing the move saying without consulting it the request cannot be entertained.
The contention of APGenco, which represented the matter before APERC, was that the PPAs entered with the four distribution companies — discoms — in the year 2009 were not approved by the Regulatory Commission.
Therefore, it is clear that the PPAs automatically become null and void and so distribution companies can enter into fresh PPAs. However, this view was rejected by the commission on Thursday. Since all the four discoms have entered into agreements, it is necessary that all the discoms should again represent to the commission on the status of PPAs. After the bifurcation, AP and Telangana got two discoms each.