Damodar Valley Corporation on Sunday warned Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) that it would consider further action if it continued to fall back in its payment of dues to the generator.
JBVNL had signed an agreement with DVC in March 2020 to pay regularly from March 2020 and seek the approval of the Jharkhand government to clear its arrears.
According to DVC, as of April 1, 2020, the total outstanding dues against the supply of power to JBVNL was Rs 5,209.31 crore.
DVC officials said that after the agreement they expected JBVNL to be prompt in their payment. However, that was not so: in the first eight months, the payment from the state utility was only Rs 441.72 crore, against a total bill of Rs 1,323.90 crore.
“DVC has to pay for coal in advance and it has to pay monthly salary to its workers. Electricity cannot be supplied if it is not paid for as this hampers generation,” said a senior official of DVC.
Realising the prospect of a rising cash crunch, the power generator has decided to regulate power supply to the utility from December 2020 and more steps are being explored to recover dues, said the official.
Among the steps taken are the invocation of a letter of credit which is offered by the state discom against electricity supply.
DVC officials said the letter of credit offered by JBVNL has been invoked and for future supply, the discom has to give a new letter of credit.
“If they are not in a position to give a letter of credit, they can deposit money a day in advance for power supply for the next day and DVC will supply power against money so deposited on a daily basis,” said the official.
Moreover, a tripartite agreement among the state government, central government and RBI was invoked last year whereby Rs 1,417.50 crore was recovered in lieu of outstanding dues. Jharkhand, however, will exit from the agreement to prevent the automatic deduction of dues.
DVC officials said the additional regulations on power supply on a weekly basis could be considered in the future if the payment was not made.
DVC currently supplies 660 MW of power to JBVNL.
