Guwahati: Country’s largest power producer NTPC has asked the Meghalaya government to clear its pending dues in three days time or face disruption in electricity supply.
In a notice sent to the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Ltd (MeECL) on Tuesday, the copy of which was marked to the Chief Secretary of the state government among other senior officials, NTPC said it has received less than 20 per cent of the total dues for the months of May and June.
“Since MeECL has not fully paid against the bills raised on June 6 this year, it has defaulted beyond 60 days in payments of monthly bills. So, the notice for regulation of power supply on MeECL is hereby given,” NTPC said.
Accordingly, the ‘Default Trigger Date’ falls on August 6 for affecting regulation of power supply to MeECL with effect from August 10 this year “as per provisions of the CERC (Regulations of power Supply) Regulations 2010, and under para 12 of ‘One Time Settlement Scheme’ annexed to TPA dated March 20, 2003”.
Earlier NTPC had raised bills amounting to Rs 8.30 crore and Rs 9.06 crore on June 6 and July 5 this year towards energy supplied during the months of May and June, respectively. “Till date, MeECL has released only Rs 3.30 crore against the said bills. Accordingly, an amount of Rs 14.06 crore remains outstanding against the bill towards energy supplied during May 2013 and June 2013 on MeECL. Further, the LC of MeECL (valid till May 2014) available with NTPC has also not been recouped by MeECL after last payment on May 31, 2013,” NTPC said.
The PSU power firm also said it would explore opportunities with other states, mainly in the Eastern and North Eastern regions, to supply the additional power that will arise after reducing the same to Meghalaya.
When contacted, Meghalaya Power Minister Clement Marak said: “We cannot pay all the dues at one time.”
Asked when the state government will clear the dues, he said: “At present, negotiation is going on and we are trying to pay the amount. We are hopeful of finding a solution by today.”
NTPC supplies a total of 46.28 MW power to Meghalaya from four stations — Farakka-I, Kahalgaon-I & II and Talcher-I. (PTI)
