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Rental Power Contracts

Errant firms set to get extension

Sharier Khan
At the fag end of the Awami League-led government's tenure, the power ministry is seeking extension of three rental power contracts by five years, although two of them have performance issues and face heavy penalties.
The ministry is seeking the approval of the cabinet's purchase committee tomorrow to extend the contracts of Desh Energy,
Energies and Precision Energy.
Desh Energy and Energis are facing penalties of $15 million each for various reasons, including lavish use of fuel and excessive shutdowns of their plants. Both of them obtained court injunctions last year so that the government could not collect the penalties.
The Power Development Board (PDB) observes that the equipment of the two plants is old, inefficient and prone to malfunction.FROM PAGE 16
A committee that had reviewed applications from various rental power companies to extend contracts recommended their extension, saying their power tariffs would be lower during the extension period than that of the original contract.
However, the new tariffs are marginally lower. For instance, Desh Energy's original tariff was Tk 19.57 per kilowatt-hour (or a unit) and its new rate would be Tk 19.53 per unit.
"The ministry has taken the decision under pressure of a political lobby. The ministry had repeatedly declined extension of the two defaulters' contracts earlier," said an industry insider requesting anonymity-
Desh Energy's three-year contract with the PDB for a 100 mw diesel-fired rental power plant in Siddhirganj would expire in February next year.
But until August 31, 2013, the company refrained from paying the PDB a penalty of more than $ 15 million for using excess fuel and shutting down the plant too often. The plant continues to consume excess fuel due to poor machinery.
Desh obtained a court injunction in late 2012 so that the PDB could not collect the penalty from its security deposit with the government (only S3.4m), and had to pay it for purchase of power.
Desh Energy told the PDB that it might deduct the Tk 50 lakh penalty for excess outage from its monthly invoices from October 2013, and the penalty for using
excess fuel in 36 monthly instalments starting from the seventh month of the extended contract.
Energies' 2008 contract for a 55-mw rental plant in Shikalbaha based on heavy fuel oil (HFO) expired in May last year. The company has faced penalties worth $ 15.7m due to various problems. But it obtained an injunction so as not to pay the penalty.
As the company's application for a five-year extension of its contract was turned down, it sought a three-year extension again in August last year.
The PDB once again rejected its proposal earlier this year, observing that the plant's performance was poor. Besides, the PDB was processing tenders to install a large power plant in place of the rental plant.
Energies applied for a five-year extension again last month, promising to withdraw its case and pay its penalties. This time, it revised its power supply capacity to 35 mw down from 55.
Precision Energy signed a contract on June 29, 2008, for a 55-mw gas-fired rental plant in Ashuganj. It came into operation in April 7, 2010, and its contract expired in April this year.
However, the plant continues to operate to date without any contract extension, and now seeks a five-year extension of its contract with a per kilowatt tariff of Tk 2.86.
According to the PDB, Precision has no defaulted payments and its performance is satisfactory.