New Delhi, February 8
Power distribution companies (Discoms) owe a total of ₹1.22-lakh crore as outstanding dues to various power generating firms as of February this calendar year, which is higher by 4 per cent compared to January 2022 when Discoms owed ₹1.17- lakh crore to Gencos (generating companies). The current dues for February stood at ₹19,458 crore.
According to the latest numbers on PRAAPTI portal (Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators), the total dues of Discoms, including the amount stuck in disputes, rose by 9 per cent to ₹1.39-lakh crore in February compared to ₹1.27-lakh crore in January. Launched in May 2018, the portal was created to bring in transparency in power purchase agreements between Discoms and Gencos.
In terms of break-up of dues based on power producers during February (excluding the disputed amount), the highest amount of dues are pending with the independent power producers (IPPs), who account for 54.64 per cent of the total dues pending this month. The share of CPSEs is 21.38 per cent, RE generators (19.31 per cent), Transcos (3.86 per cent) and state generators (0.81 per cent).
Value terms
In value terms, the discoms owe ₹56,044.24 crore to independent power producers (IPPs), ₹21,931.20 crore to CPSEs, ₹19,802.20 crore to renewable energy (RE) generators and ₹3,958.71 crore to transmission companies (Transcos).
Among the CPSEs in the power sector, the highest outstanding dues of Discoms is with power generating major NTPC at ₹4,419.46 crore till February. It is followed by Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (NPCIL) at ₹3,141.58 crore and Damodar Valley Corporation at ₹2,515.04 crore.
Similarly, among the IPPs, the Discoms owe ₹26,500.21 crore to Adani Power, followed by ₹5,308.29 crore dues pending with the Lalitpur Power Generation Company and ₹3,699.96 crore with IL&FS Tamil Nadu Power Company.
Among RE generators, the Discoms owe ₹2,129.03 crore to Adani Green Energy, ₹1,431.36 crore to Hero Future Energies and ₹1,039.86 crore dues are pending with Tata Power Company.
45 days time
Power producers give 45 days to discoms to pay bills for power supplied by them. Post which, the outstanding dues become overdue and Gencos charge penal interest on that in most cases.
In May 2020, the government announced a liquidity infusion scheme as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan for the Discoms to help them tide over liquidity problems exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Under this, REC and PFC are extending special long term transition loans up to 10 years to Discoms for liquidating outstanding dues (as on June 2020) of CPSEs, Transcos, IPPs and RE generators. So far, loans to the extent of ₹ 1,35,497 crore have been sanctioned and ₹ 1.03 lakh crore have been disbursed as of December 2021. The disbursement under the long term transition loans have been linked with Discoms undertaking specified reform measures.