Tata Power Company has got relief from Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) that has asked electricity procurers to pay Rs 3.29 billion as compensatory tariff for its Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) to partly offset escalation in the price of imported coal.
CERC has asked Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra Electricity Boards to pay this extra amount for the period Apr. 1, 2012 to Mar. 31, 2013.
Besides, a compensatory tariff of Rs. 0.524 per kWh has been granted for the project from April 01, 2013, as per CERC order. This order is in continuation of CERC's previous order of April 2013 and the high level Committee's recommendations of August 2013.
The company finds the order balanced keeping in view the beneficiaries and consumer interests. The decision of CERC was awaited to make Mundra viable, which had got impacted due to no fault of itself, but due to change of law at Indonesia as also other coal exporting countries and an unprecedented rise in coal prices which could not have been perceived. This will help in resolving a major impasse affecting imported coal based power projects in the country that got impacted due to uncontrollable extraneous factors. The order provides partial relief to Mundra UMPP, which has been contributing to the nation by way of about 2-3% of the gross generation.
Mundra UMPP has since inception been delivering to its full potential across the five beneficiary states albeit with tremendous fiscal pain and this challenge of keeping Mundra UMPP viable had continued far too long. Coastal Gujarat Power Limited, the wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, in which this UMPP is housed, will continue to honour its commitment towards the nation’s energy security by providing reliable and competitive power supply through the project.