KSEBOA - KSEB Officers' Association

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Responding to tenders floated by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) in November, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Reliance infrastructure, a unit of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, have participated in the bids to sell about 500 MW of power to the crisis-hit state during January to June 2009.

"We are facing a crisis and it is only going to get worse. We have no option but to buy more power," a senior TNEB official told . State energy secretary Smitha Nagaraj confirmed that the state was in the process of negotiating with power majors to purchase power and tide over the crisis.

TNEB, which invited tenders from 15 companies, prescribed as ‘financially sound’ by the Central Electricity Regulatory Authority, got responses from two, including NTPC and Reliance Energy. The bids were opened on November 4 and the board will now negotiate with the two companies to fix a reasonable rate for the power to be purchased. TNEB is yet to work out the cost per unit of power with the companies.Once that is done, purchased power would flow into the energy-starved state from January next year.

Board sources said the companies had quoted various slabs for a unit of power depending on supplies during different months and for peak and non-peak hours. The cost per unit hovered around Rs 8. But having been turned away from the central grid and with few options left, TNEB is now forced to sit at the negotiating table to work out the cost with NTPC and Reliance.

While NTPC is the largest thermal power generating company in the country with an installed capacity of nearly 30,000 MW, Reliance Energy generates 941 MW through its power stations located in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa.
Courtsey-The Times of India