Foto

Power tariff regulator stays Andhra Pradesh's decision to slash Greenko's PPA

MUMBAI: The Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to renegotiate power purchase agreements (PPAs) with several independent power developers has been stayed by the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (Aptel) in a decision taken on Wednesday.

The appeal had been made by a subsidiary of renewable energy company Greenko when the Andhra Pradesh power distribution utility decided to slash Greenko’s tariff from ₹ 3.74 per kWh to ₹ 2.44 per kWh retrospectively from October 27, 2017. The Aptel directed the discom to continue making payments to Greenko at the earlier rate of Rs3.74 per kWh. The case will be heard again on August 26.

After coming to power, the Jaganmohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government decided to examine existing PPAs with high tariffs, to scrap the 960MW Polavaram hydroelectric power plant and to cancel an energy storage proposal for which its predecessor had invited expressions of interest. Mint had earlier reported on the 19 June discussions by the Andhra Pradesh Power Coordination Committee. The state government has attributed the high-cost wind and solar power PPAs to the large power purchase dues from the discoms to the power generators, and thus has recommended reviewing them and to negotiate and bring down the prices of wind and solar power PPAs. However, the central government is attempting to steer the state away from this decision, saying states cannot cancel PPAs unless there is clear evidence of corruption.