Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), for the first time since coming under the jurisdiction of central electricity regulatory authority has decided to sell power to West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company (WBSEDCL), one of its beneficiary states.

DVC has so far been exporting its power outside the valley area from all its new plants. DVC last sold power to West Bengal in 2005. The power utility has now decided to sell 500 mw to WBSEDCL from its upcoming Raghunathpur-I and Rag­hunathpur-II on special request from West Bengal.

“Normally we sell power for Rs 3.06 per unit. Under central regulator, normally there cannot be different pricing but as a beneficiary state, they can always request us for a different pricing. In that case DVC will have to agree to bear the additional financial burden. The decision over pricing is yet to be taken,” a senior DVC official told Financial Chronicle here on Tuesday.

When DVC last sold power to West Bengal, (that was before 2006) it was at a much lower price. But central electricity regulator was not in place at that time.

“Between November, December last year and January this year we had series of meetings and then decided that we will offer 50 MW from Raghunathpur Super Ciritical Unit-Phase-I (which is 4.17 per cent of 2X600 MW unit) and 450 MW from Raghunathpur Phase-II (which 30.3 per cent of 2X660 MW units) to WBSEDCL.

While Raghunathpur Phase-I will come up next year, the Raghunathpur Phase-II is expected to come up within 48 months of the project getting off the ground (which is expected in August this year).

The remaining power from Raghunathpur Phase –II will go to SAIL, Tata Steel, Jindal Power & Steel, Electro Steel Castings, Adhunik Steels, the DVC official said.

Significantly, the entire evacuation plans for DVC’s all ongoing and upcoming projects are also in place. And as much as 2100 MW of DVC’s incremental capacity will go to Delhi, primarily to meet additional requirements during the Commonwealth Games. From 2X500 MW Mejia Thermal Power Station (MTPS) 875 MW will go to Delhi, 100 MW will go to Hariyana and 25 MW will be kept for DVC’s valley consumption. From 1000 MW Koderma Thermal Power in Jharkhand 775 MW will go to Delhi, 100 MW will go to Hariyana, 50 MW will go to Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) and 75 MW will be kept for DVC. Similarly from Durgapur plant, Delhi will get 450 MW, Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) will get 200 MW,MPSEB will get 100 MW and JSEB will get 250 MW, DVC officials said, adding that power purchase agreement (PPAs) have been signed for most of them, except for that with JSEB.