State-run energy distribution firms (discoms) are holding back payments to electrical energy generators for as extended as one-and-a-half years, details out there in the Union energy ministry’s ‘Praapti’ portal shows. Power generators generally raise bills amongst 5 to 15 days just after the finish of each month and discoms are supposed to spend them inside 30 days or at most effective 60 days. But even though discoms are clearing their bills – they are waiting for as extended as they can to do so. In March, for instance, they cleared bills worth Rs 30,438 crore.
Delaying payments to generators enable money-strapped discoms handle their working capital cycles and steer clear of pricey working capital loans. But it is taking a toll on energy generators which need to have to spend for coal in advance and service their debt obligations
“With the second wave of Covid overwhelming the country, timely payments have become critical for us. We need the resources to ensure continuous supply of electricity,”
-a senior executive at an independent energy generator told FE.
The discoms appear to be taking complete benefit of the Electricity Late Payment Surcharge Rules, 2021, by which penalty for late payments was lowered to a “base rate” which is 500 basis points more than SBI’s marginal expense of funds-based lending price. Earlier, the penalty was 18%. The guidelines had been changed in February.
The typical delay is highest in Andhra Pradesh at 514 days, followed by Tamil Nadu exactly where payments are now late by 419 days. Other states that are taking time to spend their bills include things like Karnataka (331 days), Odisha (329 days) and Maharashtra (323 days).
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Among the generators which supplied their inputs to the Praapti portal, Adani Power had the highest pending overdues of Rs 18,408 crore at FY21-finish. NTPC’s overdues stood at Rs 5,024 crore even though the very same for DVC was Rs 4,888 crore. Other private energy producers, to whom discoms owed funds, had been GMR Energy (Rs 4,960 crore), Bajaj Lalitpur (Rs 4,817 crore), Tata Power (Rs 2,447 crore) and Sembcorp (Rs 2,376 crore).
As per the most current update on the Praapti portal, discoms’ ‘overdues’ — pending receivables of 45 days or more — to energy producers stood at Rs 74,202 crore at the finish of March 2021, more or significantly less comparable to that a year ago. This was earlier shown as Rs 82,400 crore. Among the states which owed the highest amounts to energy generators at FY21-finish are Tamil Nadu (Rs 16,209 crore), Rajasthan (Rs 10,356 crore), Maharashtra (Rs 9,859 crore), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 5,688 crore) and Andhra Pradesh (Rs 5,111 crore). Earlier, the overdue quantity of Maharashtra shown was Rs 18,652 crore.