Energy ministers of five states on Tuesday urged power minister Piyush Goyal to intervene in restoring power supply to their provinces facing major blackouts due to closure of some electricity generation units of Adani Power and Tata Power plants at Mundra over a tariff revision dispute.
Energy ministers of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan met Goyal and is learnt to have suggested that the government should intervene in sorting out the power crises which have plunged large areas of these industrialised states into darkness owing to shutting down of units of the two power plants.
During the three-hour- long meeting the states are understood to have suggested that the government should consider filing an affidavit in the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) to reinforce the powers of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to revise tariffs if the need arose due to rise in input costs. However, it could not be confirmed whether the power producers too were invited for the meeting. Adani Power has shut down six generating units at its 4,620 MW plant at Mundra in Gujarat claiming parts default payment by Haryana, while Tata Power, citing technical snag, has closed down two units of its 4,000-MW plant sparking long blackouts in these five states. It is also learnt that both these firms have also sought the Centre?s intervention for resolving the issue of compensatory tariff.
While Adani Power supplies electricity to Haryana and Gujarat, Tata Power supplies power to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.
The energy ministers told Goyal that prolonged blackouts would impact industrial output and may trigger resentment among the people, a source privy to the meeting said. Due to a change in Indonesia?s coal-pricing regime in 2011, both Tata Power and Adani Power had approached (CERC) seeking relief.
