Cement plant fails to pay Rs 9.91cr
SHILLONG: Tardy action by the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) to recover electricity charges from one consumer, M/s JUD Cement Private Limited from Wahiajer in Jaintia Hills had resulted in the dues accumulating to Rs 9.91 crore as of September 2012.
As per the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), even after revising the payment schedules, outstanding balance on account of electricity charges against the consumer had increased by 0.32 crore during the period from November 2011 to September 2012.
“Despite repeated defaults in payment of energy charges even after allowing reschedulement of the outstanding electricity dues, the company allowed usage of electricity to the consumer,” the CAG report stated.
It was mentioned that section 56 of the Electricity Act, 2003 empowers the MeECL to disconnect power supply to a consumer for non-payment of electricity charges, however, notwithstanding this provision, MeECL allowed usage of electricity to the private cement company despite repeated defaults in payment of electricity charges.
According to the reports, the outstanding balance at the end of each month (during the period from March 2010 to September 2012) increased exponentially from 0.47 crore in March 2010 to 9.91 crore in September 2012 which is an increase of about 2000 percent.
In its reply, MeECL had accepted the facts and stated in September 2012 that power supply was disconnected whenever the consumer failed to pay dues.
However, since the corporation needed a cash flow to tide over financial constraints, the power supply was not disconnected in totality. It was further stated that out of the pending amount of 7.07 core (August 2012), 4.66 crore related to delayed payment charges for which the consumer had requested for waiver.
The CAG found the reply not tenable as the corporation’s own finances were under stress and highly depended on borrowed funds for the purchase of power. Under such scenario, the CAG observed that non-recovery of huge outstanding dues put an additional interest burden on the borrowings of MeECL.
“The corporation may incur a net loss of interest in case of delayed payment charges are waived besides sending wrong signal to its major consumers,” the report stated.
