The total outstanding dues payable by state-owned distribution companies to power generators grew 40.5 per cent year-on-year, to reach Rs.1,31,985 crore on August 31, 2020.
Data relating to August 2020 was released on the PRAAPTI portal recently. Here are some highlights:
- The total “overdue” amount by discoms to power generators grew by 57.7 per cent to reach Rs.1,19,272 crore on August 31, 2020 from Rs.75,646 crore on August 31, 2019. Any amount that is due is deemed “overdue” if it remains unpaid for over 60 days, which is the grace period.
- The amount billed to discoms in August 2020 was Rs.15,286 crore. Interestingly, this was 19.5 per cent lower than the Rs.18,979 crore billed in August 2019. The fall in amount billed by discoms can be explained by a combination of reasons. Power demand was lower in August 2020 (a COVID-affected month) that in August 2019. Power discoms are buying electricity from power exchanges when prevailing market rates are lower than the PPA-bound tariffs. Demand side management (DSM) practices are leading to lower peak demand.
- Discoms made a total payment of Rs.13,112 crore to power generators in August 2020. This was 25.2 per cent lower than the comparable Rs.17,527 crore in August 2019.
- In August 2020, over 87 per cent of the total payment made by discoms to generators was towards clearing overdue amounts. In August 2019, this metric was 71 per cent.
- It appears that discoms are doing well on clearing the outstanding amounts, which is to say, discoms, in recent months, have been clearing their dues within the grace period. The total outstanding amount as of August 31, 2020 stood at Rs.12,713 crore—nearly 31 per cent lower than the Rs.18,317 crore as of August 31, 2019.
- In summary, the saving grace for discoms appears to be the sheer decline in amount billed by generators.
(Note: PRAAPTI stands for Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators.)
