NEW DELHI, March 3: Finally, the people in Shillong and other parts of the state are set to get relief from frequent power outage as the state government is coordinating with the Union Power Ministry to find a solution.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma told The Shillong Times that he is hoping for a solution soon.
The state’s Power Minister, James Sangma had a meeting with Union Power Minister, Raj Kumar Singh and sought his intervention to end load-shedding, caused due to some action of the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), the CM said.
“NTPC had recently invoked the Letter of Credit (LC) thereby restricting Short Term Open Access (STOA) through NERLDC resulting in the disruption of power in the state,” a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office said.
“Ironically, Meghalaya no more takes power from the NTPC but it does not allow the state to take power from others which has created the current crisis,” the statement said.
James told the Union Minister that the Government of Meghalaya has already expressed its commitment to repay outstanding energy dues and late payment surcharges by availing Rs 1,345-crore Atmanirbhar Bharat loan and even disbursing Rs 100 crore to NTPC out of the Rs 630 crore from the first tranche of loan, the statement added.
The NTPC is resorting to some clause of an old agreement signed by the then Meghalaya government and demanding payment.
The state is facing this problem now due to an order issued by the Ministry of Power in 2019 on opening and maintaining adequate LC as the payment security mechanism under power purchase agreements by distribution licensees. The LC amounts to around Rs 18 crore and the LC has to be made available to the NTPC.
Meghalaya has stopped drawing power since 2017 from the NTPC due to high tariffs, but despite that it still has to pay because they have levied the fix charges that accumulated over the years. Under this agreement, NTPC has the power to regulate supply in the state.
James requested the Union Power Minister to intervene in the matter and consider revoking the restrictions at NERLDC at the earliest. The NTPC suddenly regulated the power supply to Meghalaya on Monday, forcing the MeECL to re-impose load-shedding for six hours from Tuesday till the issue related to LC is resolved.