The outstanding dues of power utilities of state governments and UTs payable to Central PSUs stood at over Rs.20,000 crore, as per latest statistics released by Central Electricity Authority.
These dues are those that are outstanding for more than 45 days, and include principal amount and late payment surcharge.
This outstanding amount has not changed much from that in the previous year. On October 31, 2022, such dues were Rs.20,913 crore. However, there has been a marked change in the constitution of this list.
Here are some observations:
- Total dues by Tamil Nadu as of October 31, 2022 stood at Rs.7,295 crore, accounting for over 35 per cent of the aggregate dues. In 2021, this southern state had much lower dues of Rs.4,283 crore.
- Dues by UT of J&K fell from Rs.5,780 crore in 2021 to Rs.2693 crore in 2022 – both as of October 31.
- Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh were two other instances of outstanding dues falling considerably between 2021 and 2022. From Rs.2,425 crore as of October 31, 2021, outstanding dues of Karnataka utilities dropped to Rs.540 crore as of the same date in 2022. Likewise, dues of Madhya Pradesh utilities fell from Rs.1,335 crore to Rs.342 crore, by the same comparison.
- In the case of Bihar, outstanding dues ballooned from just Rs.74 crore as of October 31, 2021 to as much as Rs.1,638 crore on the same date in 2022.
It should be noted that these are “outstanding” dues that have remained unpaid beyond the grace period of 45 days. State power utilities also owe dues within the grace period, which are termed as “current” dues. This story discusses only outstanding dues and that too, payable to Central PSU generators like NTPC, NHPC, Damodar Valley Corporation, Nuclear Power Corporation of India, etc.
State power utilities also owe monies to other generators like independent power producers (private sector generators) and to renewable energy developers.
Also read: Power PSUs Meet 63.4 Per Cent Of FY22 Capex Target, So Far
Total dues
According to information available on the PRAAPTI portal (accessed on January 11, 2023), state power utilities owe a total of Rs.78403 crore to all entities put together. Of this amount, Rs.25,253 crore was “outstanding”, which is overdue by over 45 days. The remaining Rs.53,150 crore was “current” in that it falls within the grace period of 45 days.
(Note: The given table shows only leading states with respect to outstanding dues, in 2022 and 2021.)
