Power discoms owed Rs 1,32,432 crore in June
In June 2022, the total outstanding dues owed by electricity distribution companies to power producers increased by 4 per cent year-on-year, to Rs 1,32, 432 crore.
Total dues in June increased from Rs 1,30, 139 crore to power generation firms in June 2021, according to portal PRAAPTI Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for Transparency in Invoicing of generators.
The PRAAPTI portal was launched in May 2018 to bring transparency to power purchase transactions between generators and discoms.
In June 2022, the total overdue amount, which was not cleared even after 45 days of grace period, stood at Rs 1,15, 128 crore, against Rs 1,04, 095 crore in the same month a year ago. The overdue amount was Rs 1,07, 636 crore in May 2022.
Power producers give 45 days to clear bills for electricity supply. In most cases, outstanding dues become overdue and generators charge penal interest on that.
To give relief to Power Generation companies gencos, the Centre implemented a payment security mechanism on August 1, 2019. Under this mechanism, discoms must open letters of credit to get power supply.
The Centre had also given some breathers to discoms for paying dues to gencos in view of the COVID 19 induced lockdown. The government had waived penalties for late payment of dues.
The government announced in May 2020 a 90,000 crore liquidity infusion for discoms, under which these utilities received loans at economical rates from Power Finance Corporation PFC and REC Ltd.
This was a government initiative to help gencos stay afloat. The infusion package was increased to Rs 1.2 lakh crore and further to Rs 1.35 lakh crore.
The data shows that a major portion of the dues to gencos are due to the discoms in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.
In June 2022, the total overdue of independent power producers was 53.17 per cent of the total overdue of 1,15, 128 crore of discoms.
The proportion of central PSU gencos in the overdue was 22.4 per cent.
NTPC alone has an overdue amount of Rs 5,441 among the central public sector gencos. There was 95 crore on discoms, followed by DVC at Rs 3,885. NPCIL and 19 crore were Rs 3,272. In June, 2022, 24 crore were made.
Discoms owe the highest overdue amount of Rs 21,625. Adani Power received 02 crore in the month under review. Solar and wind were the overdue of non-conventional energy producers like solar and wind at Rs 22,432. In June 2022, there were 27 crore.