Rs 1,770 Crore Ntpc Dues Unpaid

About 45 per cent of bills raised between April and December last year by three National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) power plants in the eastern region remain unpaid.

The three power stations have outstanding bills worth Rs 1770 crore, including Rs 397 crore as late payment surcharge.

NTPC raised bills for Rs 1602 crore during this period on six power agencies. They paid Rs 876 crore only leaving an unpaid sum of Rs 734 crore.

The consumers had an outstanding bill of Rs 638 crore at the beginning of the current financial year. They added another Rs 734 crore in these nine months.

On an average, NTPC was selling power worth Rs 177 crore per month, between April and November, 1997.

The average rate of outstanding was Rs 80 crore per month. At this rate, the consumers will add almost Rs 1000 crore annually to its outstanding amount.

The six power agencies that buy power from the three NTPC power plants at Farakka, Kahelgaon and Talcher, are, West Bengal State Electricity Board, Bihar SEB, Assam SEB, Sikim, Gridco and the Damodar Valley Corporation.

BSEB was the biggest consumer of NTPC power with a 9-month billing of Rs 666 crore.

However, at the end of the period, it had an outstanding bill of Rs 668 crore and about half of it was added during this period.

Gridco comes next with a billing of Rs 386 crore. Its payment records were better as it ended the period with Rs 220 crore worth bills as outstanding.

WBSEB bought energy worth Rs 263 crore, and had its outstanding bill worth Rs 302 crore, of which Rs 143 crore was added during these nine months.

DVC was billed Rs 212 crore and it had an outstanding amount of Rs 173 crore, having added Rs 60 crore during the period.

ASEB, in comparison, has paid consistently. It was billed Rs 72 crore and it paid up Rs 70 crore.

Sikkim was at the other extreme. It did not pay a single paisa during these nine months. The entire Rs 2.86 crore bill was added to its outstanding amount of Rs 3.49 crore.

NTPC also sold power to Andhra Pradesh SEB and Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board from these three power stations. Together, the two power agencies were billed Rs 303 crore. They paid just Rs 174 crore.