Ntpc Wins In Battle Over Dues With Bengal

Union power minister S Venugopalachari made it clear to West Bengal power minister S K Sen on Tuesday that West Bengal State Electricity Board cannot avoid the responsibility of collecting dues from Assam and Andhra Pradesh electricity boards.

The ministry, however, has not asked the corporation to lift regulation of power supply to West Bengal and other eastern states. It supported NTPC's stance of not getting involved in dues collection.

NTPC's argument was that the power sale by the West Bengal electricity board was from its allocation and, therefore, it was its task to realise the dues.

NTPC's average sale of power every month to West Bengal State Electricity Board is Rs 14 crore.

 

Sen has agreed to the ministry's suggestion of the West Bengal State Electricity Board opening a letter of credit for Rs 10 crore in place of the present Rs 4 crore. The board will pay the rest of the amount directly.

Sen promised an arrear payment schedule before the end of this year. He said the arrear payment should start from January as West Bengal State Electricity Board's revenue collection is slated to go up after a tariff hike.

The ministry said the Eastern Region Electricity Board and the Southern Region Electricity Board should similarly recover the power dues from Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board. Andhra Pradesh will be asked to open a letter of credit in favour of West Bengal State Electricity Board.

But neither the ministry nor the central power utility could assist in realising the dues from the Assam State Electricity Board.

NTPC has no agreement with any northeastern states and West Bengal was free to cut off exports to Assam if payments were not forthcoming, the ministry said. Sen did not agree to this, saying it will not be right to deny power-starved Assam. He asked for six weeks' time to talk to Assam to realise the outstanding dues.

Sen did not press for acceptance of his earlier suggestion that NTPC should directly bill states outside the eastern region for surplus power consumption.

West Bengal has come to terms of the fact that it will eventually have to surrender a share of its NTPC power. This again was unacceptable as Bengal may itself require the power when its own generation fails. Any permanent surrender of a part of its quota will be unwise.

It is not clear when NTPC will lift its regulation. Sources said there was no instruction from Delhi to bring back idle units either at Farakka or Kahelgaon. The regulation, sources said, may not be lifted till West Bengal State Electricity Board opens a letter of credit for Rs 10 crore to assure NTPC that the current bills will be paid.