- (1.) THE present application has been made by Madhya Pradesh Power Trading Company Limited under Section 63 of Electricity Act, 2003 for adoption of tariff determined through international competitive bidding process for supply of electricity from Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (hereinafter referred as 'Sasan UMPP').
(2.) Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') envisages that the Appropriate Commission shall adopt the tariff if such tariff has been determined through transparent process of bidding in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Central Government. The Central Government in Ministry of Power has issued the guidelines contemplated under Section 63 of the Act, titled "Guidelines for Determination of Tariff by Bidding Process for Procurement of Power by Distribution Licensees" (hereinafter referred to as 'the guidelines') vide Resolution No.23/11/2004 R&R (Vol.II) dated 19.1.2005. The salient features of the bidding process as laid down in the guidelines are discussed hereunder for convenience of reference: (a) The guidelines are applicable for procurement of base-load, peak-load and seasonal power requirements of distribution licensees through process of competitive bidding. The distribution licensees (referred to as procurers for the purpose of competitive bidding) may adopt the guidelines for long-term procurement for a period of 7 years and above and medium term procurement for a period exceeding 1 year up to a period of seven years. (b) Procurement by more than one distribution licensee through a combined bid process is permitted and in such a case, the procurer has the option of conducting the bid process through an authorized representative. (c) The bid documentation is required to be prepared in accordance with the guidelines and the standard bid documents issued by the Central Government. In such cases, intimation shall be sent by the procurer to the appropriate Regulatory Commission about initiation of the bidding process. In the event of deviation from the bidding conditions contained in the guidelines, approval of the Appropriate Commission shall be sought by the procurers or their authorized representative. (d) For long-term procurement from the projects with pre-identified sites, the procurers or their authorized representative are required to complete such activities such as site identification and land acquisition required for the project, environmental clearance, fuel linkage, water linkage etc. (e) A two-stage bidding process comprising separate Request for Qualification (RFQ) and Request for Approval (RFP) shall be adopted for long-term procurement under the guidelines and the procurer or authorized representative shall prepare bid documents including RFQ and RFP in line with these guidelines and standard bid documents. (f) The procurer shall publish a RFQ notice in at least two national newspapers, company website and preferably in trade magazines to accord it wide publicity. The bidding process shall necessarily be by way of international competitive bidding. RFP shall be issued to all bidders, who are qualified at RFQ stage. In case, the bidders seek any deviation and procurer finds that deviation is reasonable, the procurer shall obtain approval of the appropriate Commission before agreeing to such deviation. (g) Formation of consortium shall be permitted. In such cases the consortium shall identify a lead member and all correspondence for the bid process shall be done through the lead member. The procurer may specify technical and financial criteria, and lock in requirements for the lead member of the consortium, if required. (h) The minimum number of qualified bidders should be at least two other than any affiliate company or companies of the procurer to ensure competitiveness. If the number of qualified bidders responding to the RFQ/RFP is less than two and the procurer still wants to continue with the bidding process, the same may be done with the consent of the Appropriate Commission. (i) The procurer shall constitute a committee for evaluation of the bids with at least one Member external to the procurer organization and affiliates. The external Member shall have expertise in financial matters/bid evaluation. The procurer shall reveal past association with the external Members directly or through its affiliates that could create potential conflict of interest. (j) Eligible bidders shall be required to submit separate technical and price bids along with necessary bid-guarantee. The bid shall be opened in public and representatives of bidders desiring to participate shall be allowed to remain present. The bidder, who has quoted lowest levellised tariff as per evaluation procedure, shall be considered for award of the contract. (k) The Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) shall be signed by the procurers with the selected bidders consequent to the selection process in accordance with the terms and conditions as finalized in the bid document before the RFP stage. After signing of the PPAs, the Evaluation Committee shall provide appropriate certification on adherence to the guidelines and to the bid process established by the procurer. The procurer shall also make the evaluation of bid public by indicating terms of minimum bid and anonymous comparison of all other bids and also the contract signed with the successful bidder. (l) The applicant shall submit the final PPA along with the certification by the Evaluation Committee to the appropriate Commission for adoption of tariff in terms of Section 63 of the Act. The applicant, a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and a Government of Madhya Pradesh Undertaking, has been authorized by all the procurers (Distribution licensees of the States of Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand) as the Lead Procurer for discharging all the rights and obligations of the Procurers for procurement of power from the Sasan UMPP. In discharge of its obligations as Lead Procurer under the Guidelines and the Power Purchase Agreement, the applicant had requested Power Finance Corporation (PFC) to take all necessary actions in this regard and authorized Shri G. Dastidar, AGM, PFC to submit the application to the Commission for adoption of tariff under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003 and take further action in the matter.
(3.) THE applicant has stated that Sasan Power Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as 'the Company') was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Finance Corporation, a Government company, to undertake the various preliminary developmental activities and to carry out the international competitive bidding as the Authorized Representative of the Procurers to select the bidder, who would build, own, operate and maintain Sasan UMPP to be located at Village: Sasan, District: Sidhi, Madhya Pradesh in terms of competitive bidding process issued by the Central Government.;