Sunday, September 22, 2013

Govt to act on discom dues after elections

NEW DELHI: The government plans to get strict with the Reliance discoms, BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna, from December for their failure to pay the generation companies, IPGCL and PPCL, and also the transmission utility, Delhi Transco. Sources say unless the discoms clear their dues, the government will have to regulate supply to them.
Similar threats have been made in the past, but this time the government is waiting for the elections to get over as snapping power supply could lead to blackouts across the city. Power department officials say the companies owe approximately Rs 2,800 crore to the generating companies and another Rs 1,100 crore to Transco, and . Over the past few weeks, they have paid Rs 200 crore to the gencos. But, officers point out, the two firms have defaulted on payment since 2010-11 unlike the third discom, Tata Power Delhi.
"The discoms have a lot of regulatory assets piled up which have just been accumulating and this has to be addressed at the proper level," said power secretary R K Verma. "At the same time, they have been defaulting on current dues, and if they fail to pay immediate outstanding dues, we will be left with no choice but to take action."
Verma hinted that the action could be on the lines of Delhi Metro's takeover of the Airport Express Line after Reliance stopped operations. "We have sent a number of me-morandums to the discoms to discuss a payment schedule but they never have an answer. They only talk about their outstanding dues," said Verma, adding, "DERC has directed that the August-September dues have to be cleared but the discoms have not paid. If they are in such a precarious financial situation, why doesn't their promoter, Reliance Group, bail them out?''
with thanks : Times of India : LINK : for detailed news.

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