Mumbai: To keep Maharashtra load-shedding free, the state electricity distribution company (MahaVitaran) will continue to purchase power from central and state undertakings and also from the private power producers. The power will also be sourced from energy exchange. The power purchase cost for 2020-21 has been estimated at Rs61,234.57 crore, Rs63,894.79 crore for 2021-22, Rs67,455.81 crore for 2022-23, Rs70,917.81 crore for 2023-24 and Rs78,817.97 crore for 2024-25. The per unit power purchase rate ranges between Rs4.47 and Rs4.68 for the five years.
MahaVitaran in its multi-year tariff proposal submitted to the state electricity regulatory commission (SERC) has said its projection on power purchase was based on the availability, operational parameters, expected commissioning of upcoming projects and decommissioning of old generatiing units. MahaVitaran will purchase power from the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company, NTPC, Nuclear Power Corporation, NHPC and couple of private players, including JSW, Adani Power, EMCO Power, Rattan India and also from the generators of renewable power.
MahaVitaran has said there has been deviation in increase in power purchased expenses for the fiscal 2019-20. Although the SERC had approved power purchases expenses at Rs52,738.26 crore, MahaVitaran has estimated it will now increase to Rs56,305.45 crore. It is because of change in revenue from sale of power following a change in consumer mix and a change in capital expenditure related expenses. MahaVitaran has submitted to SERC that these deviations were beyond its control.
As far as the sale of power to high tension consumers including industires, commercial, railways and agriculture is concerned, MahaVitaran has projected 40,519 million units (MUs) in 2020-21, 42,243 MUs in 2021-22, 44,065 MUs in 2022-23, 45,993 MUs in 2023-24 and 48,037 MUs in 2024-25. For low tension consumers, including the below poverty line, domestic, non-domestic and streetlight, MahaVitaran has estimated that there will be sales of 70,722 MUs in 2020-21, 73,233 MUs in 2021-22, 75,889 MUs in 2022-23, 78,701 MUs in 2023-24 and 81,682 MUs in 2024-25.
Further, MahaVitaran has projected year-on-year 0.25% reduction in distribution losses. It has estimated 13.01% distribution loss in 2020-21, 12.76% in 2021-22, 12.51% in 2022-23, 12.26% in 2023-24 and 12.01% in 2024-25.
