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Money > Reuters > Report June 29, 2001 |
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Buyers seek price-cut from DPCEnron's troubled 2,144-MW Dabhol power plant, whose only buyer has stopped purchasing electricity, can find customers for 700 MW if it cuts its price, a business daily said on Friday. The Business Line said that the Central Electricity Authority submitted a report to the power ministry saying the southern state of Karnataka was willing to buy 300 MW from Dabhol Power Co in the western state of Maharashtra. It said Madhya Pradesh in central India could take 100 MW and Rajasthan in northwestern India wanted 150 MW, while Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi wanted 150 MW. Karnataka said it was willing to pick up power at under Rs 3 while others were willing to buy at around Rs 2.8, the newspaper said. At peak capacity, Dabhol, which is owned 65 per cent by Houston-based Enron, charged Rs 4.75 per kilowatt hour, more than the cost of electricity from state-owned plants. But after the Maharashtra State Electricity Board defaulted, Dabhol scaled down to 25 per cent capacity and charged Rs 7.1, more than triple the rate of other suppliers. Earlier this month, India's minister of state for power said that Dabhol had offered to charge much less for power from the second phase of its $2.9 billion project. But a Dabhol spokesman said then it was too early to talk about specific tariff cuts as they would depend on the plant load factor, the exchange rate and the prevailing oil price. The plant's first phase of 740 MW began operations in May 1999. The second phase would have added 1,444 MW this year but its contractors stopped work this month as lenders were unwilling to support the venture. The Union government recently asked the Central Electricity Authority to talk to power-deficient states and find out if they were willing to buy power from Dabhol. Union Power Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Thursday the CEA had prepared a preliminary report and another one looking at the price elasticity of demand would be sent later. YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ: The Enron Saga
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