According to the board, it has paid Rs 3.04 per unit to TEC for power supplied between April and August which is only 37 paise cheaper than the price of power supplied by DPC (Rs 3.41).

Sources also pointed out that TEC which sells only the surplus power to the board has supplied around 230 million units between April and August this year against the MSEB's claim of 1,511 million units.

These "revelations" have sparked off fresh controversy surrounding MSEB's disclosure submitted to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) while justifying the proposed 10 per cent increase in power tariff.

Giving the details of estimated power purchase and cost of power purchase from various sources during 1999-2000, MSEB has stated that for the full financial year it would pay around Rs 1,416 crore to the TEC for 4,400 million units and Rs 1,512 crore to the DPC for the supply of around 4,100 million units.

The argument is likely to be challenged as the board has already reduced its purchase from the TEC since the DPC plant started generating power. Under its contractual obligation, MSEB has to continue a higher offtake from DPC.According to the sources, what MSEB perhaps has indicated is the cost of power which TEC and MSEB exchange at various transmission points. This, however, gets nullified at the end and TEC gets paid only for the surplus power it sales to MSEB. Thus it would be misleading to say that TEC's ower cost s around Rs 3.04.

Moreover, since MSEB does not have any obligation to buy power from TEC it pays only the minimum price for that, which varies between Rs 1.80 and Rs 2. However, TEC may get a little more on the account of increase in the fuel cost over the past few months. "It would be a small increase over Rs 2," which the power company gets currently, sources pointed out.

MSEB has, however, stated that the average cost of buying power from National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is only around Rs 1.41 per unit and Rs 2.10 per unit in case of Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) while the power from its own generation and other sources cost around Rs 1.53 per unit.Going by the MSEB's claim that DPC's power at the end of the year would cost around Rs 3.69 per unit, the DPC power would be costlier by around Rs 1.50 per unit than the price of the TEC power, if the company gets around Rs 2.20 per unit.

The board had to submit these details to the MERC in order to explain the the estimated revenue expenditure and source of earning for the current financial year. While justifying the increase the board said that the increase in tariff would not cover the revenue shortfall. It said that the shortfall in revenue is pegged at Rs 1,109 crore while the revided tariff would provide the board only Rs 404 crore during the current fiscal.

According to MSEB, it would generate around Rs 12,640 crore during the current fiscal. This include the revenue from sale of electricity (Rs 12,341 crore) and other sources (Rs 299 crore). Other income include delayed payment, power factor penalty, interest minimum charges.

The revenue expenditure for the year is estimated at Rs 13,324 crore.