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MSEB against buying DPC Phase II power

Renni Abraham

The Maharashtra State Electricity Board will press hard during the renegotiation process with Dhabol Power Company to ensure that it is not required to absorb more than the 740 MW of power generated in Phase I of the project.

While MSEB chairman Vinay Bansal declined to comment on the issue, another senior electricity board official said: "We have been consistently stating that MSEB's ability to absorb the power generated by DPC and the cost at which this power is supplied are crucial to our financial viability."

The MSEB, to be represented by Bansal in the renegotiation process with DPC, would take the line that it should not be made to draw power from phase II, the official noted.

He further said that, from MSEB's perspective, the renegotiation would have to address the issue of the cost of power that the electricity board has to pay to DPC.

Another issue that would witness the active participation of the MSEB chief during the renegotiation discussions relates to the sale of phase II power by DPC outside Maharashtra.

"It would have to be made clear upon whom the responsibility of selling the surplus DPC power would lie. Either MSEB or the National Thermal Power Company or another central agency could be asked to sell the surplus power that MSEB is unable to absorb," the official pointed out.

While the DPC is yet to officially state its willingness or otherwise to renegotiate, the state government has already issued a resolution authorising the negotiating committee to hold discussions with DPC.

Chairman of the renegotiation committee Madhav Godbole said: "We will have to wait for DPC to respond to the renegotiation process first. We will officially write to them now that the GR has been issued."

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