Power gencos, states owe Rs 22,770 crore to CIL, NLC India and SSCL

Power generating companies, especially state-owned units, owe Rs 22,770 crore to Coal India (CIL), Singareni Collieries (SSCL) and NLC India. Of this, CIL owed Rs 12,423 crore as on January. SSCL owed Rs 6,286 crore.

These dues of generating companies (gencos) to coal mining entities rose 16 per cent over the past four years. Among the states, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have the highest share of dues to NLC and SCCL, respectively.

CIL had told Parliament's standing committee on coal and steel that it keeps supply on to defaulters in the national interest. “We supply under a fuel supply agreement (FSA) which provides for payment of coal through advances. However, most of the times, keeping in mind national interest and maintaining uninterrupted power generation, even though state electricity boards/state gencos/central public sector units do not make timely payment, CIL had to continue coal supply. This further increases the outstanding dues,” it had said.

The majority of its dues are from state and central government-owned generation companies, under FSAs. CIL said the agreement provides for levy of interest on delayed payment, which it does claim.

Source: Report of standing committee on coal & steel, 2020

State power utilities are also struggling to pay central and private power generating companies. The dues of state-owned power distribution companies (discoms) towards central and private generation companies was Rs 85,407 crore at end-December 2019. an increase of 56 per cent from January 2019. States also owe another Rs 9,000 crore to renewable power producers.

The state discoms’ cumulative loss was Rs 18,316 crore as on December.

Commenting on the rising dues, the standing committee recommended coal companies take strict steps for recovering these. “The committee desire the matter be taken up more vigorously and, if warranted, imposition of a late payment surcharge be considered,” it had said.