New Delhi: NTPC on Saturday served notices of power supply suspension to the two Anil Ambani-owned distribution companies in Delhi due to payment issues.
The state-owned utility said BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna had not maintained letters of credit of adequate value, a prerequisite for getting power from NTPC stations.
Since BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna have not been able to provide the requisite payment security mechanism, notice for regulation of power supply for 90 days starting February 11 has been issued to both companies.
A spokesperson for BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna declined to comment on the matter. Anil Ambani is the Chairman of Reliance Infrastructure, which owns the BSES companies and distributes electricity to homes in Delhi and Mumbai.
"In spite of our repeated follow-up and meeting with senior officials of BSES Rajdhani, the company has not been able to give any letter of credit for the full value within seven days, which is a breach of PPA (power purchase agreement) provisions," NTPC said in a notice today to BSES Rajdhani.
In a separate notice, NTPC said BSES Yamuna has not been able to reinstate the letter of credit for the full value so far, which is a breach of PPA provisions.
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) empowers generation companies to regulate power supply in case letters of credit, which are assurances of payment, are not maintained.
"CERC (Regulation of Power Supply) Regulations, 2010, also provide for regulation of power supply in case of non-maintenance of the required letter of credit or other agreed payment security mechanism (PSM)," the company said in the notice.
Last month, BSES Rajdhani re-instituted the letter of credit on January 29, against the due date of January 7, NTPC said, adding that currently there is no letter of credit available.
BSES Rajdhani's last letter of credit was encashed yesterday, leaving a shortfall of Rs 27l.61 crore, NTPC said.
"There is a payment shortfall of Rs 96.07 crore on BSES Yamuna which, as per PPA provisions, should have been paid by January 31," NTPC said.
The present allocation of power to BSES Rajdhani from NTPC stations is l,26l MW and for BSES Yamuna it is 811 MW.
BSES Rajdhani distributes power to over 18.5 lakh customers in south and west Delhi, including Alaknanda, Vasant Kunj, Saket, Nehru Place, Nizamuddin, Sarita Vihar, Hauz Khas, R K Puram, Janakpuri, Punjabi Bagh, Tagore Garden, Vikas Puri, Palam and Dwarka, according to its website.
BSES Yamuna has 13.5 lakh customers in central and east Delhi, including Chandni Chowk, Daryaganj, Paharganj, Shankar Road, Patel Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, Mayur Vihar and Yamuna Vihar.
The other distribution company in the national capital is Tata Power's North Delhi Power Ltd.
With thanks : PTI : LINK
