The AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) has constituted an expert committee to study and prepare a report on the methodology to be followed for approval/ratification of short-term power procurement so that the overall power purchase costs are reduced to the extent possible and the consumers derived the benefit from it in the form of reasonable tariffs and at the same time the interests of discoms are protected.
APERC secretary C. Ramakrishna stated in a press release that the committee, which consists of Usha Ramachandra, Professor & Director of the Centre for Energy Studies, Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, N. Sree Kumar from Prayas Energy Group and M. Sivarami Reddy, retired chief engineer of APSEB, will submit their report in a month.
It was further said that power purchase cost constitutes about 80% of the annual revenue requirement of the discoms and any increase thereof adversely affects the electricity tariffs levied on the consumers.
Demand-supply gap
A part of the power purchase costs is accounted by the short-term procurement of power from the market necessitated to bridge the demand-supply gap. Objections are being raised time and again on the need to procure short-term power when the State is in an energy surplus situation.
Mr. Ramakrishna said: “Though it is true that the State is in an energy surplus situation on an annual basis, the unpredictable and intermittent nature of generation from the renewable sources is resulting in a gap between demand and supply during certain time blocks or seasons forcing the discoms to go for short-term procurement to bridge the gap.”
The APERC, therefore, constituted the above committee to suggest ways to keep the short-term power purchase costs in manageable limits in order to bring down the overall costs.
