In another blow to Power State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) has ordered it to pay ?472 crore with interest to Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL) for default in payment for purchase of imported coal in 2017.

Earlier, the PSPCL lost a case of coal washing charges and it had to pay ?3,200 crore to private thermal plants.

In the recent case, the PSPCL disallowed payment of alternative coal (imported coal) cost to be arranged by the TSPL to run the plant at full capacity during the 2017 (June to September) paddy season. Besides, the corporation also did not pay the deemed capacity charges from September 2016 to May 2017 and October 2017 onwards. The total default was around ?478 crore.

Allowing the TSPL petition, the APTEL has asked the PSPCL to pay the said amount with interest, which will be around ?500 crore.

In 2019, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) disallowed two appeals filed by the TSPL wherein it was said the as the linked coal provided by the PSPCL is not sufficient to run the plant at full capacity, the corporation should either pay cost of imported coal or capacity charges. Flowing this, the corporation approached the APTEL.

Setting aside the PSERC order, the APTEL directed the PSPCL to make the payment of differential amount as sought by the TSPL with late fee surcharge according to provisions of the power purchase agreement (PPA) from the date of billing till payments are made along with deemed capacity charges from October 2017 onwards.

Officials privy to the development said poor drafting of the PPA has again gone against the PSPCL. Citing the PPA, the tribunal said it is the obligation of the corporation to arrange for the fuel for the generating station. Though the TSPL was required to pursue the matter with the ministry of coal, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and other departments, the obligation of arranging fuel lies with the PSPCL, the tribunal said.

One of the reasons for less coal supplied by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited was lesser requisition by the TSPL (from April 17, 2017 to June 10, 2017) due to force majeure, due to fire in the coal handling plant. Due to this, the TSPL was unable to send requisition of 6.9 lakh MT of coal. The APTEL said the imported coal was procured by the TSPL due the circumstances beyond its control, thus it should have been paid for it.

The failure of the PSPCL to discharge its obligation affected the TSPL adversely. Hence, the TSPL is justified in claiming deemed capacity charges between September 2016 to May 2017 and October 2017 till 2018, the tribunal said.

Following the tribunal order, the PSPCL has decided to challenge the tribunal order in a higher court, said an official. PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director A Venu Parsad was not available for comments.

President of the PSEB Engineers’ Association Jasvir Singh Dhiman said there were serious lapses on the part of the PSPCL in executing these projects due to which the consumers of the state are suffering. The government had promised to issue a white paper on the issue, but to no avail.

All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) spokesman VK Gupta said that officials who drafted the PPAs should be held responsible for coal linkage issue related costs and other weak provisions of power pacts, which has led to a loss of over ?10,000 crore to the consumers.