SHILLONG, March 16: The respite of people from load-shedding could be temporary as the NEEPCO has written to the North Eastern Regional Load Dispatch Centre to regulate the supply of power to the Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Limited (MePDCL).
In a letter to the Executive Director of North Eastern Regional Load Dispatch Centre, the Executive Director (Commercial) of NEEPCO said the MePDCL has failed to clear the outstanding dues to the NEEPCO even after the latter relentlessly pursued the matter at various levels.
The letter said the MePDCL dues continued to escalate and the outstanding in excess of 45 days piled up to Rs 156.70 crore as on March 15 along with late payment surcharge of Rs 347.71 crore. The total dues as on March 15 stand at 504.41 crore.
“The notice is served for round-the-clock regulation of power supply to the MePDCL from all power stations of the NEEPCO for a period of six months from 00:00 hours of March 20 or till such time the MePDCL liquidates its outstanding dues of more than 45 days, whichever is earlier,” the letter reads.
With this move, the NEEPCO will regulate 147.53 MW of power for Meghalaya from its different sources.
The NEEPCO also said that as the outstanding payment and late payment surcharges are more than seven months old, the MePDCL may be debarred from procuring power from a power exchange or grant of short-term open excess till such bill is paid.
Rule 4 of Electricity (Late Payment Surcharge) Rules, 2021, circulated by the Minister of Power, mentions “….provided further that, if a distribution licensee has any payment including late payment surcharge outstanding against a bill after the expiry of 7 months from the due date of the bill, it shall be debarred from procuring power from a power exchange or grant of short-term open excess till such bill is paid.”
In the past three-four months, power was regulated for Meghalaya by the discoms due to non-payment of dues which forced the state government to resort to load-shedding.
The state went through the recent power cuts as the NTPC regulated power supply due to non-payment of bills. This had made Power Minister James Sangma to rush to New Delhi to meet the Union Power Minister to find a solution. Soon after his meeting with the Power Minister, the NTPC had withdrawn the load-shedding regulation.
Meghalaya stares at loan cancellation
The Union Power Ministry has asked the Meghalaya Power department to advise the MePDCL to request REC and PFC to disburse the remaining installments to the NEEPCO within March 15, failing which sanction of the loan will be liable to be withdrawn. The deadline has since expired.
The Ministry earlier expressed concern that the MePDCL is unable to avail of the opportunity of Liquidity Infusion Scheme (LIS) under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to enable the DISCOMs to clear their outstanding dues towards the CPSUs.
The Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Tanmay Kumar in a letter to the Secretary of Power Department, Pravin Bakshi on March 12 said the Government of India had launched the LIS to enable the DISCOMs clear their outstanding dues towards the CPSUs and that a loan of Rs 1,345.72 crore has been sanctioned to the MePDCL by REC and PFC under this scheme.
The Ministry also said that so far the MePDCL has availed Rs 386.86 crore from REC and PFC and the amount was disbursed to the CPSUs in January this year as the first installment of the loan.
“However, it has come to the notice of the Ministry that thereafter the MePDCL has not made any further request to REC and PFC for disbursement of the balance sanctioned amount,” the Joint Secretary said.
Pointing out that central GENCOs, particularly NEEPCO, continue to face acute liquidity crunch and are finding it extremely difficult to continue with normal operation of their power stations, the Secretary of the Power Ministry said for a small company like the NEEPCO, the outstanding dues receivable from the MePDCL has become an unbearable burden as routine operational expenditures have to be borne through funds raised from the market at exorbitant cost.
“Therefore, it is a matter of concern that MePDCL is unable to avail of this opportunity extended by the Government of India to clear their dues. In view of the above, MePDCL may be advised to request REC and PFC to disburse the remaining installments to NEEPCO within March 15, 2021, failing which sanction of the loan will be liable to be withdrawn,” the letter added.