CAG findings: ‘Haryana cited non-availability from Adani to buy costly power from private producers’

The Haryana Power Purchase Centre (HPPC), which buys electricity for the state’s two power distribution companies, justified the procurement of costly thermal power from private generators under a central government scheme by considering acute power shortage due to non-availability from the Adani Power Limited (APL) under litigation power purchase agreements and state-owned plants not running at full capacity due to coal shortage.

Auditors at the comptroller and auditor general (CAG), however, found this justification untenable stating that power generators were legally bound by the terms and conditions of power purchase agreements (PPAs) and issues with the Adani Power were resolved by the time the HPPC gave in principle consent in 2018 to purchase power under the central scheme.

A single-day shortage of coal at plants was taken as basis for entering into the PPA of three years’ duration, the auditors said in a report.