Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Oct 16, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Oct 16, 2003 |
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Corporate
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Announcements Industry & Economy - Power BSES gets 50 offers for power purchase plan Our Bureau
Mumbai , Oct. 15 BSES Ltd has received around 50 responses to its tenders for purchase of surplus power from independent power producers and captive power plants across the country amounting to around 2,000 MW. Mr Anil Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, told newspersons on Wednesday that the company proposes to access alternative sources of power in order to help reduce retail tariff and reduce dependence on buying expensive power from bulk supplier, Tata Power Company (TPC). BSES has applied to the State Electricity Regulator for open access to transmission lines to bring the excess power from outside Maharashtra. Mr Ambani blamed TPC for resorting to what he called "predatory pricing" in the Mumbai circle where BSES supplies power to 68 per cent of retail power consumers, which caused the company losses worth Rs 90 crore. He accused TPC of encroaching on BSES's customer base, claiming that 548 consumers had so far migrated to Tata Power which is charging BSES a higher tariff compared to its own customers, MSEB and BEST, the other power suppliers in Mumbai. Mr Ambani also said that in addition to buying surplus power from other sources, BSES plans to set up a greenfield gas-based generation capacity of 3,000 MW and is in talks with Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The new capacity will be supplied gas from Reliance Industries Ltd's KG-basin gas find. The fuel will be supplied through RIL's proposed gas pipeline grid. The company is restructuring its businesses by focusing on gas-based plants. As a result, BSES has integrated the 48 MW Reliance Salgaoncar Power Company and the Andhra Power project with itself. BSES has moved out of the Maithon coal washeries project and sold its telecom business to Reliance Telecom Ltd. The company has also decided to stop undertaking external EPC projects. Instead, it plans to focus on in-house assignments. BSES will be interested in buying a stake in the beleaguered Dabhol power project only in the case of an "asset sale", according to Mr Ambani. "Our stand remains what it was in September 2001. We are willing to look at DPC only on an `as-is-where-is' basis. It has to be an asset sale."
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