UP Power Corp pays Rs 600 cr to Lanco, RPower for restoring supply

Mounting dues had recently forced Lanco Infrtech, Reliance Power to shut power supply to UPPCL, whose financial health is still as precarious as ever

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) has cleared Rs 600 crore in dues to private generators in the past couple of days.

Mounting dues had recently impelled Lanco Infratech and Reliance Power to shut supply to UPPCL, whose financial health remains as precarious as ever.

Lanco runs the 1,200 Mw (2x600 Mw) Anpara-C thermal power plant in Sonbhadra district and Reliance Power owns the 1,200 Mw (4x300 Mw) Rosa plant in Shahjahanpur district. The monthly power billing by Lanco and Reliance to UPPCL is Rs 80-90 crore and Rs 225-250 crore, respectively. While, Lanco’s dues had accumulated to a little over Rs 400 crore, Reliance’s had crossed Rs 900 crore.

“We paid more than Rs 200 crore to Lanco yesterday as part-payment of their dues and Rs 200 crore is still pending,” a senior UPPCL official told Business Standard. Similarly, Reliance had been paid Rs 408 crore and their remaining dues are a little over Rs 500 crore.

The official said one unit of Lanco was operational and another 600 Mw unit would be operational on April 8. Three units of 300 Mw each were under operation at Reliance’s Rosa plant as well, he said.

“It is no secret that UPPCL is facing a cash crunch and we are trying to improve the situation by seeking power tariff (rate) revision and checking power theft,” he added.

Yesterday, UPPCL had supplied 8,546 Mw in UP against a demand of a little over 10,000 Mw. In summer, it should cross 12,000 Mw. The result is massive power cuts, especially in smaller towns. Industrial feeders have to share the burden.