NAGPUR: Despite much hopes being pinned on it, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission has come up with a rather vague order on the power supply imbroglio in Mihan-SEZ.
The issues relating to tariff to be charged by Abhijeet Group, which has a power plant dedicated to Mihan, or allowing the company to procure cheaper power from the open market and supply in the SEZ, have not been touched, say stakeholders.
MERC, which is the state's power regulator, has said that it has not dealt with issues related to the contract between the concerned parties as it was out of the purview of the petition and "should be mutually decided". It has limited its focus to resolving the emergent situation in Mihan which faces the possibility of a blackout.
All the ruling says is that the state-owned MSEDCL should supply power in the
SEZ to those consumers who have applied for a connection with it. The next line reads: "This should be done in such a manner that those not availing the option do not suffer and continue to get power as they have been getting."
Here is the catch, say the stakeholders. According to Tushar Mandlekar this implies that Abhijeet Group will have to continue supplying power to the 15 consumers who have not gone for the MSEDCL option.
However, an Abhijeet Group official said even as it appears to be so, on the face of it, "this is easier said than done".
MSEDCL will be supplying power using Abhijeet Group's network. So, if the latter is also supposed to cater to those consumers who have not gone for the MSEDL option, the same network will have to be used. "Getting power from two sources in the same network has its own technical difficulties. Even if MSEDCL has submitted that it is possible with some minor modifications, Abhijeet Group believes that it may not be able to supply uninterrupted power under such an arrangement," said the company's representative.
The Abhijeet Group source said it will now be only sourcing the power from open market for supplying the remaining consumers in Mihan. But for this it needs permission from the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), the developer of the SEZ. The approval is pending.
The source maintained that it will no longer be running the DG sets as it was doing earlier claiming that it will lead to safety hazard in the current scenario.
"If the DG sets are also run when power is also supplied in the same network by another, it can hamper the safety. There was no problem if no other source was using the network," said the Abhijeet Group officer.
MERC further says that the ruling only provides for an interim arrangement and MADC or Abhijeet Group can approach it once normalcy is assured.
However, how normalcy can be assured remain to be a million dollar question, say the stakeholders.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com