RInfra refutes charges on its multi-year tariff

Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) has refuted the allegations in relation to its multi-year tariff (MYT) petition. At a press meet in Mumbai, RInfra has clarified that, in terms of the power purchase cost, the fixed cost and variable cost (2011) was based on the Aggregate Revenue Requirement order of 2009.

“Post this, the cost of fuel, transportation and other expenses have increased. The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has approved the increase in its truing up orders for FY10, FY11 and FY12,” said Kapil Sharma, Additional Vice-President, RInfra.

Stating that the cost plan projections submitted to MERC have undergone a separate technical validation and public hearing, RInfra said there is no variation in its sales figures, as charged by Prayas, a Pune-based consumer organisation.

Reacting to the charge that capex figures in the MYT petition are different from those approved in the RInfra-D business plan order, the company has held that MERC approved a capex of Rs 673 crore in its business plan order after considering the approved Detailed Project Report (DPR). An additional Rs 1,076 crore was approved by the MERC, on submission of the multi-year tariff petition, the official said.

In a scathing attack against Tata Power and referring to the Case 151 Order, the RInfra official said Tata Power had assured the MERC that it had the backbone network ready in 11 out of the 20 clusters, and had agreed to connect its consumers within a one-year time-frame.

“As of now, Tata Power is using RInfra’s network and procuring power. MERC endorsed Tata Power’s commitment and directed Tata Power to have its own network in 11 out of the 20 clusters. Consumers who have changed over from RInfra to Tata Power in the interim, are to be connected to the Tata Power network within one year, ending August 22, 2013,” said Sharma.

Reading out from the Case 151 Order, he added, “(Tata Power’s) failure to meet the said target would attract severe consequence under the law”.

Sharma added that the company was going by the order, and that RInfra has considered only changeover sales in the remaining nine clusters after August 22, 2013.

Stating that MERC has approved Rs 2,450 crore of regulatory assets as on March 31, 2012, in its order dated April 4, 2013, RInfra has proposed to recover the regulatory assets spread over a period of six years commencing FY14 onwards, the official said, adding the recovery plan has been designed keeping in mind the ‘ability to pay’ of each consumer category.

In a statement, the company has said, with regard to cross-subsidy, that: “As far as RInfra is concerned, the cherry-picking and selective network laying by Tata Power has resulted in a loss of cross-subsidy availability in RInfra’s system. This has also been recognised by the Appellate Tribunal on Electricity (ATE) in its recent order on the issue”.

Commenting about the operation and maintenance (O&M) expenses, the official added that MERC, in its draft regulations, had provided norms for O&M expenses which were later halved in the final MYT regulations. “These were issued without providing any explanation or opportunity of being heard,” the official charged, adding: “The MERC approved norms for FY12 are lower by Rs 250 crore than the MERC approved actuals for FY12”.

> amritanair.ghaswalla@thehindu.co.in

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