The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) is in the dock again over the completion of 12-MW Khauli hydel project in Kangra district, completed at an estimated cost of Rs 126 crore. The per MW generation cost of the project is about Rs 10.50 crore as against Rs 10.20 crore on the 126-MW Larji project, which was until now considered the costliest hydel project in the country. The per unit cost of the project, which would generate 54 million units (MUs) of power annually, has been worked out at around Rs 6 per unit against the average selling cost of Rs 3.67 per unit by the board. The exact cost of the Khauli project was only known when the board filed an application with the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) for determining the tariff. The commission has fixed the power purchase cost of projects up to 5 MW capacity at Rs 2.80 per unit and Rs 2.25 per unit for projects with more than 5 MW. The board is drawing flak from all quarters for failing to commission the second hydel project on time as the Khauli project was completed three years behind schedule with an escalated cost of Rs 126 crore while the Larji project was commissioned five years behind schedule at a cost of Rs 1,294 crore. On the other hand, the per unit cost of the 1,500-MW Nathpa-Jhakhri hydel project, located in a more difficult terrain and executed in the around the same time in hostile climatic conditions, works around to be Rs 5 crore per MW and that too after it suffered huge losses due to flash floods on three occasions. However, more intriguing is the fact that the board or the government has not taken any action against the officials responsible for the irregularities in the Larji and Khauli projects.