Delhi govt warns of punitive action if BSES doesn't pay dues

The Delhi government has strictly directed Reliance Infra-backed BSES power distribution companies to immediately clear dues of Rs 1958 crore to Delhi Transco Ltd (DTL) and warned of punitive action if the payment was not made.
Delhi Government sources said if the two discoms fail to clear the outstanding, then DTL may consider restricting the two BSES discoms from using the city's transmission network which may lead to major blackouts.
The DTL said it was facing severe fund crunch which is affecting day-to-day maintenance and operation of the network. It said if the payments are not made, there could be a system failure which may result in power crisis.

The BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd has to pay Rs 1171 crore to DTL while BSES Yamuna Power Ltd owes Rs 787 crore to the Delhi Government-run company which maintains all major power transmission networks in the city.
"DTL is not able to mobilize sufficient funds in carrying out day-to-day maintenance. If this kind of situation continues further, there may be system failure which may lead to serious power crisis in the city during the summer," said a DTL official.
The government has sent separate notices to the two companies on March 11, asking them to immediately pay up the dues as DTL has been facing serious fund crunch.

"Delhi Transco is running its operations with borrowings from banks and other sources. The situation is becoming difficult every passing day as lenders see no inflow of funds to DTL from its legitimate and bonafide beneficiaries like BRPL and BYPL," a DTL spokesperson said.

He said both BRPL and BYPL are making payment of the dues to most of the Central power generation and transmission entities as well as to its group companies supplying power. However, the discoms have not made any payment to DTL.
"This is a highly discriminatory and unfair approach on the part of BRPL and BYPL. The option with DTL is to regulate power supply but this will not be in the interest of general public of Delhi," the spokesperson said.

He said DTL has been facing financial hardship due to non-payment of wheeling charges by the BSES discoms. The amount has been accumulating since October 2010.
The Supreme Court in an order in March, 2014 had directed the two discoms to make the payment of current dues from January 1, 2014 regularly.
The dues since then for BRPL has been Rs 444.24 crore, while those of BYPL Rs 325.55 crore, the DTL official said, adding the company has already filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court in this regard.
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BSES said the matter of payment of dues to power utilities by it is sub-judice in the Supreme Court. The judgement in the matter is reserved and awaited since February 2015.

"The total Regulatory Assets of BSES as acknowledged by the DERC till 2013-14 are Rs 8,000 crore. Additionally, DERC has also admitted in the Supreme Court that there are Appellate Tribunal (ATE) judgements of Rs 4,500 crore in favour of BSES.
"Along with the interest, the total money owed to BSES discoms would be in excess of Rs 16,000 crore as on March 31, 2016. On the other hand, dues payable to various generating and transmission companies are around Rs 9,000 crore (DTL around Rs 1700 crore)," the discom said in a statement.
It also said BSES is awaiting the SC judgement, which will clear the path of recovery/liquidation of the regulatory assets. BSES discoms are also making concerted efforts to address the situation and clear pending dues in a just and equitable manner.

The delay in liquidation of BSES' revenue gap of more than Rs 16,000 crore has created a grave financial situation for BSES discoms, resulting in unbearable stress in relation to payments to the various power utilities and other stakeholders, it said.