|
Srinagar,
Mar 11 2012, Believe it! Jammu and
Kashmir has no institutionalized mechanism to monitor
power purchases in the state.
According to experts, the state incurs an annual expenditure of around Rs
3500 crore on procurement of power for its onward distribution to domestic,
commercial, industrial and departmental consumers.
While 80 percent of the power is being purchased from Central Public
Sector Undertakings (CPUs) and other sources from outside the state, 20 percent
requirement is met from the state-owned Power Development Corporation (PDC) and
diesel generating stations mostly installed in Ladakh region.
The Kashmir Centre for Social and Development Studies (KCSDS) in its
objections to PDD tariff petition filed before State Electricity Regulatory
Commission (SERC) recently, has made startling revelation of “grave lapses in
the power purchases in the state which have been left to be handled by one
Executive Engineer without any administrative control or technical support.”
“There is neither any mechanism of cross-verification of the energy
accounts by the department who receive energy in grids from JKSPDC and CPSUs
like NHPC, NTPC, NPCIL and others nor any mechanism of joint meter reading by
PDD and PDC in PDC owned stations,” KCSDS chairperson Prof Hameedah Nayeem
states in her petition to SERC.
According to experts, the Commercial and Survey wing of PDD deals with
the purchase of power from various agencies before its onward transmission and
distribution to the consumers.
According to the petition, the Commercial and Survey wing is managed by
one Chief Engineer, one Superintending Engineer, two Commercial Divisions, two
Survey Divisions and two Load Dispatch and Meter Testing Divisions (LDM&T).
“The Chief Engineer moves from one region to other with Durbar move while
the Superintending Engineer is permanently stationed at Srinagar,” the petition said.
It said: “Among the two commercial divisions, one each is permanently
stationed at Srinagar and Jammu. While the Commercial Divisions deal
with power purchase bills, SERC petitions, protection and meter testing; the
Survey Divisions conduct load survey of consumers that forms basic data for
power management and infrastructure planning. The LDM&T division deals with
the load management and State Load Dispatch Centers.”
The KCSDS explained to the SERC that the Commercial and Survey wing is
considered to be a “Cell” implying unattractive, for the engineers.
“It has been observed that engineers and officials put in all efforts to
escape from being posted to C&S wing and it is only during last one year
that three officers of the levels of Chief Engineer, Superintending Engineer
and Executive Engineer managed transfer to ‘working wings’ within months of
their posting,” it said.
“Since majority of engineers prefer posting to ‘working wings’, the
C&S wing is presently without a full time chief engineer and the post is
additionally held by the Development Commissioner Power who happens to be
overloaded with lot of works as head of the utility,” they said.
Although 10% of the total state budget is spent on purchase of power, yet
the department continues to adopt non serious approach and obsolete methodology
that has failed to check and reduce ever growing power bills, it said.
Whereas the utilities in other states have since adopted latest
techniques and mechanism to purchase power from open market through power
trading companies, PDD in the state still prefers to generate costliest power
through gas turbines, the KCSDS spokesman had told SERC.
Prof. Hameedah Nayeem also conveyed her dismay on the role of SERC in the
regulation of Power Purchases and approval to power procurement plan as the
utility has never followed their directives except in case of tariff
hike.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Social Activist and former FCIK president
Shakeel Qalander said there is an urgent need for the government to look into
the whole issue of power purchase mechanism of PDD.
He suggested that the government should immediately revamp the Commercial
and Survey wing after clearing it from unwilling lot of engineers/officers and
recruit efficient “Power Purchase Managers” and other supporting staff with
separate legal and finance divisions in scientific and corporate environment.
The staff in the wing could be created from amongst the upright and
dedicated lot of engineers/officers within the department besides new recruits
who could be offered attractive pay packages matching the best in the industry.
He said that under Electricity Act 2003, the purchase of power has been
allowed to be made from open market on competitive basis through Energy
Exchanges and for past 5 years, the Power Purchase Managers and Power Traders
throughout the country operate in the same way as Stock Exchange Brokers trade
in shares. These managers remain constantly in touch on internet to keep watch
on system frequency, present market rate of energy, surplus energy in the
system, shortfall in the system, regional demand, regional load, congestions of
corridor, weather forecast, machine break downs etc.
The new “Power Purchase Managers" can also develop perspective power
plans, supply demand scenario for decades to come besides keeping watch on
present and future power scenario not only at state level but also at national
level, Qalander said adding that they will also keep watch on the power
purchase agreements being signed between the utilities which have impact on
future power scenario.
Qalander said that unless the government and PDD wake up to the reforms
in the power purchase and load management mechanism, besides curbing the
AT&C losses, the huge power purchase cost is going to continue and eat up
the vitals of the state economy.
|