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NHPC Ltd is targeting a capital expenditure of ₹3,800 crore in the next financial year, its Chairman, Balraj Joshi said. This is 45.46 per cent more than the ₹2,577 crore capital expenditure target for the current financial year.

NHPC has realised (or spent) 71 per cent of its capex target for the current financial year till now, Joshi told reporters. Commenting on capacity addition targets of the company, Joshi said, “We will want to have an installed capacity of 10,000 MW by 2022. This target includes addition of solar energy. Our current installed capacity is close to 7,000 MW.”

But despite the positive projections, NHPC faces some headwinds. The company needs to recover ₹3,001 crore from errant power distribution companies (Discoms). “We need to recover dues worth ₹2,660 crore without surcharge and ₹3,001 crore worth of dues with surcharge,” Joshi said.

“Of the total dues, Jammu and Kashmir Discoms owe ₹967 crore and Uttar Pradesh power distribution companies owe ₹1,009 crore,” he added.

Joshi said Jammu and Kashmir’s dues to NHPC that are pending for over more than 60 days is ₹610 crore. UP owes ₹806 crore to NHPC when it comes to bills raised more than 60 days ago.

The 60-day payment window is adopted by Discoms when clearing the bills of power generation companies. After the lapse of this window, the surcharge levied for late payment increases substantially. NHPC levies a surcharge of 18 per cent in some cases.

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