New Delhi: The AAP government has strictly directed Reliance Infra-backed BSES power distribution companies to immediately clear dues of nearly Rs 6,000 crore to Delhi Transco Ltd and two state-run power generation companies.
Top officials in the Delhi government said BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) have been ignoring notices by the Power Department to pay the dues and it may now consider "punitive action" against the two discoms.
They said both the discoms have to pay around Rs 4,500 crore to Delhi government-run power generation companies Indraprastha Power Generation Company Ltd and Pragati Power Corporation Limited for supplying power in the last five years.
"They have to pay the two power generation companies for supply of power since 2009," said a senior official of the Power Department. The two power generation companies supply around 800 MW of power to BSES daily.
The official said the two discoms have also failed to clear dues to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore to Delhi Transco Ltd for using its network. The Delhi Transco Ltd maintains all major power transmission network in the city and discoms have to pay it for using the network.
"Both the BSES discoms owe a total of around Rs 6,000 crore to Delhi government-run power distribution companies. We are exploring various options to recover the dues," said the official.
Another senior official said the financial health of the three companies have deteriorated because of non-payment of the dues by the BSES discoms.
He said Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd has been making regular payments to all three Delhi government-run companies. The BSES has been maintaining that it was going through a difficult financial condition as it has not been allowed to recover around Rs 10,000 crore in losses due to increase in power purchase cost and low tariff.
The two BSES discoms had conveyed to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission that "absence of cost reflective tariff and denial of Power Purchase Adjustment Cost (PPAC) for last few months have depleted its financial positions."
The PPAC, which was introduced four years ago to help the discoms adjust their power purchase cost, was discontinued by the regulator five months ago.
According to power experts, cost of buying power by Delhi discoms has increased by around 300 per cent since 2002 though the retail tariff has risen by only around 90 per cent which has resulted in accumulation of a large unrecovered revenues.
The private power distribution companies, particularly, BRPL and BYPL have been demanding significant hike in tariff, citing rise in power purchase cost.
Both the discoms supply power in 70 per cent areas in Delhi. According to DERC figures, the private discoms operating in the city have a revenue gap of whopping Rs 14,000 crore.
According to official figures, around 80-90 per cent of total revenue of discoms goes into purchasing power from central and state government owned entities through long term power purchase agreement, at rates determined by the central and state regulators.
The cost of buying power has increased primarily on account of an increase in the input prices of raw material like coal and gas, officials said.
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