Calcutta, Oct. 13: Two private renewable-power plants in Bengal say they have been forced to halt operations because one state agency is refusing to pay them the tariff fixed by another.

Amrit Bio Energy (10MW) in Bankura and Kamarhati Power Limited (6MW) in Burdwan have been closed for over four months, affecting the livelihood of around 550 families, at a time the state is grappling with power shortage and every megawatt counts.

The two plants, which had started operations in 2009, produced electricity from biomass, a mix of agricultural waste such as rice husk, sawdust, wheat husk and nut shells, and sell to the state grid. The West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission had raised the tariff to Rs 4.36 per unit in August 2010, with retrospective effect from April 2010.

But, industry sources said, the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) has refused to pay more than the originally agreed Rs 3.35 per unit.

WBSEDCL chairman Rajesh Pande could not be contacted but state power minister Manish Gupta said the matter would soon be sorted out.

“This is nothing but a mindset issue,” Gupta told The Telegraph, hinting that some senior officials were still not prepared to let the state invest in renewable energy.

Gupta conceded that the gap between the production costs of coal-fired energy and renewable energy was getting narrower, and that there would be more reliance on renewable power in the future to reduce emissions.

The state now pays Rs 3-5 per unit for thermal power and Rs 2-4 for hydel power.

Sources said the state distribution agency’s reluctance to pay the new rates for biomass-fuelled power had affected the entire renewable energy sector. None of the eight other companies that have procured licences to produce renewable energy has yet started work at the ground level.

A.K. Mukherjee, executive director of Techno Electric and Engineering Company, which has bought land at three places in Bengal to produce renewable energy, confirmed that the tariff row was holding the company back.

Sources in the Union ministry of new and renewable energy said most states had fixed rates above Rs 4 per unit for biomass-powered energy.

Amrit Bio executive director Kali Kishore Bagchi said: “We have submitted all documents and requested the WBSEDCL through various letters and personal representations (to pay the revised tariff)... but nothing has happened.”

He said biomass had become costlier since the power agreement was signed in 2006, and that production was unviable under the old tariff rates. The company has appealed to the chief minister and the power minister, sources said.

Kamarhati Power recently moved Calcutta High Court on the issue, but hearings are yet to be held.

“We knocked on all the doors in the government but with little result. We have also gone to court but the matter is pending,” chief executive officer S.B. Agarwal said.

Amrit Bio, the bigger of the two plants, has an investment of Rs 65 crore and is built over 15 acres, with another 15 acres kept for expansion to solar energy.

“Unless the tariff issue is settled, we will have to think twice before investing further in renewable energy in the state,” Bagchi said.

A state power department official said: “What kind of mindset is this that the agency refuses to pay Rs 4.36 per unit for renewable energy but is ready to buy power from other states at Rs 7 per unit at peak time?”