The Orissa government ?owned Gridco has sought a Rs 1,000 crore financial bailout package from the state government. The sole bulk supplier of power in the state is facing a severe liquidity crunch as it has to buy power at high cost to meet the shortfall in the state.
Gridco is already suffering losses due to the adverse tariff order handed out by the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC). The OERC has fixed the bulk power tariff at Rs 1.22 per unit while the pool cost is about Rs 1.72 per unit to Gridco. The OERC order came despite protests from Gridco which suffered losses to the tune of Rs 700 crore during 2008-09 because of the adverse tariff order. Gridco suffered a loss of 35 paise per unit because of the lower bulk tariff during 2008-09.
?It will be a difficult year for us,? admitted CJ Venugopal, Gridco CMD.
?Gridco is going to suffer a loss of Rs 1,000 crore due to the lower bulk tariff,? Vengopal told FE. According to him, the company is incurring loss of 50 paise on every unit it sold to power distribution companies. To add to it the company is now paying as high as Rs 5 to Rs 10 per unit as it has to overdraw power from the eastern grid to maintain the required frequency, he added.
Against the peak load demand of about 2900 mw, the total availability of power is about 2200 MW. Even though the state has reduced the supply to industries by about 50% and declared two hour power cuts during peak hour, the state is still facing a deficit of about 250 to 300 mw.