NTPC gives Discoms time till March 17 to clear overdues; will cut power thereafter

State-owned power giant NTPC has decided to extend the deadline for defaulting Discoms to pay outstanding dues till Tuesday next week, post which electricity supply will be snapped.

NTPC has given this breather in view of the Holi festival on Tuesday after some Discoms assured that they will clear the dues.

Late last month, the NTPC had served notices on these Discoms demanding the outstanding amounts, saying that power supply would be cut on from midnight tonight.

Overdue

An outstanding becomes overdue after 60 days of raising the bill against power supplied to a Discom or State. The Gencos generally charge penal interest on these overdue amounts.

According to the notices available on the company’s portal, these defaulting Discoms are in Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, Odisha, Bihar, Manipur, Mizoram, Kerala, Sikkim and Puducherry.

“Due to mounting outstanding dues of around ₹10,950 crore, NTPC has issued (power cut) regulation notices to various beneficiaries to be made effective 0000 hrs of March 10, 2020. Subsequently, based on the request of beneficiaries and due to the Holi festival on March 10, NTPC has extended the date of regulation to be effective from 0000 hrs of March 18, 2020,” a source told PTI.

“This is an ongoing process and NTPC is receiving encouraging response from almost all the beneficiaries and it is hopeful of receiving the outstanding amount in time to avoid regulation,” the source added.

According to the notices, NTPC had planned to cut 16,475 MW power supply to these Discoms in different States.

J&K owes the most

Among the States and Union Territories, Jammu & Kashmir’s total outstanding dues were the highest at ₹3,619.93 crore, followed by Uttar Pradesh at ₹3,274.51 crore and Telangana at ₹3,138.55 crore, according to the notices served last month.