Power discoms owe 1L-cr to gencos

GUJARAT, ODISHA, Chattisgarh and some of the north eastern states have up to one month overdues, while Andhra Pradesh, J&K and Meghalaya have overdues for over 12 months.

Power distribution companies (discoms) have an overdue amount of

`1,06,951 crore towards payment to gencos in May, as per government data. The overdue amount has been over `1 lakh crore since the beginning of the year.

The overdue amount is outstanding dues which have past 45 days. Apart from the overdue, the current dues account for

`14,856 crore. These are outstanding amounts that have not passed 45 days of their respective due dates, as per the PRAAPTI website.

In total, discoms have `1,20,927 crore of outstanding dues to gencos. In the month of May, they have paid `216 crore against overdue amount and `550 crore against current dues. Discoms have been able to pay only around 5 per cent of their dues for the past several months. In December

2021, the overdue amount was `99,003 crore. Since January, it has been over

`1 lakh crore.

Gujarat, Odisha, Chattisgarh and some of the north eastern states have up to one month of overdues, while Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya have overdues for over 12 months.

Discoms owe 56 per cent overdues to independent power producers, while central public sector gencos account for 18.8 per cent share.

Non-payment of dues affect the cash flow of gencos and their ability to buy coal. With power demand going up amidst coal shortage, the government had asked to import coal for power generation. However, gencos are not able to buy coal due to payment dues. The government had recently met the gencos, discoms and lenders, asking them to resolve the payment issues.