According to the sources, the borrowed amount will be used by the department to clear the dues of private companies, so that there is no disruption in power supply
Jaipur: The Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (Jaipur discom) is gearing up to borrow Rs 500 crore from banks to purchase electricity from private companies.
As the department recovered only Rs 799 crore against a total amount of Rs 1,421 crore from collection of bills, a situation of crisis situation prevailed. The decision was taken after receiving no relaxation from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) in this regard.
According to the sources, the borrowed amount will be used by the department to clear the dues of private companies, so that there is no disruption in power supply.
“As per the record, payment of Rs 954 crore will be made to Adani Power-Raj West. The department also has to clear the dues of other companies including Maru Transmission, Aravali Transmission, Thar Power, Haduti Powers and Barmer Powers,” said sources.
Sources further said that there is a financial crisis in discoms which has resulted in delayed payment to the generation utilities. A payment of Rs 1,561 crore to 16 companies is also to be cleared.
To ensure timely payments to electricity generation utilities, the Centre had last year made it mandatory for state distribution companies (discoms) to offer letters of credit (LC) as part of the payment security mechanisms in power purchase agreements (PPAs) starting August 1.
Till 30 June 2020, the payment security mechanism to be maintained by discoms with the generating companies for dispatch of power shall be reduced by 50 per cent, said source
Source: TNN
