FCC

Power discoms owe dues worth Rs 68 billion to renewable energy developers

2019-08-23

As reported, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) stated that power distribution firms throughout the country owed dues amounting to approximately Rs 68.72 billion to renewable energy developers. This includes:?

Andhra Pradesh: Rs 25.9136 billion
Telangana: Rs13.1845 billion
Karnataka: Rs 9.3386 billion
Madhya Pradesh: Rs 6.1302 billion
Tamil Nadu: Rs 5.5152 billion
Maharashtra: Rs 4.7233 billion
Rajasthan: Rs 3.3947 billion
NTPC: Rs 0.2532 billion
Uttarakhand: Rs 0.1152 billion
Sikkim: Rs 0.0636 billion
Punjab: Rs?0.0506 billion
Himachal Pradesh: Rs 0.0201 billion
Odisha: Rs?0.0124 billion
Uttar Pradesh: Rs 0.0006 billion

Almost 70 per cent of the total payment to be made belongs solely to the three states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

As reportedly stated, CEA, in a letter to the state distribution companies had suggested the importance of monitoring payment of dues to renewable energy companies from state power discoms.

This comes at a time when India has set an ambitious target of achieving a renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022, making it all the more crucial to resolve the issue.

Additionally, the Power Ministry also made it compulsory for power distribution companies to open and maintain adequate Letters of Credit as a payment security mechanism for signed PPAs with power generating companies. Along with laying out terms for them to pay energy generators fixed charges as per the PPAs, in case power is not procured from these energy generators.