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PANJIM: Citing high rates charged by the company, the State government has sent a notice to Reliance Infrastructure Limited that it will not buy power from it from August 2014, when the power purchase agreement expires, Power Minister Milind Naik said Saturday.
The agreement was signed with Reliance 13 years ago. Officials say that the State has stopped buying power from February 1.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had already said that the government would stop buying power from the company from the ensuing financial year due to high tariffs. The average cost of power from RIL from January 2011 to November 2012 is Rs 12.74 per kw.
As per the provisions of the power purchase agreement and following agreements, the State government has to purchase 19.8 mw power from the total power 48 mw generated.
According to officials, since this power is costly, the Electricity Department restricts the purchase to about 12 to 16 mw during the day.
Reliance is allowed to sell the balance power directly to consumers, with approval from the government, according to provisions of the power purchase agreement.
“We have one more year for the agreement to end, but we find that the rates are high, so we have stopped buying,” Power Minister Milind Naik said.
The State had signed a power purchase agreement during the tenure of then power minister Mauvin Godinho, pledging to draw 48 mw of power from the plant. But this had been gradually scaled down and the intake has been reduced to 16 mw in 2009.
The firm has planned to expand its facility to raise its generation capacity to nearly 100 mw at its Sancoale plant in 2009.
