BSES discoms among 7 utilities put on notice over dues by NTPC

NEW DELHI: State-run NTPC has slapped disconnection notices on five discoms across four states for non-payment and threatened BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and BSES Rajdhani Yamuna Ltd (BRYL), the Reliance-ADAG utilities supplying power in Delhi, with encashment of bank guarantees or insolvency proceedings to recover Rs 1,864 crore dues.
Sources said notices for encashment LCs are likely to be served on discoms of Madhya Pradesh, Telengana and Assam in the next few days, indicating the government’s resolve to enforce financial discipline among discoms.
NTPC sent the notices for disconnection, called ‘regulation’ in industry parlance, on Thursday to the government distribution companies of Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Puducherry and Karnataka utilities HESCOMS (Hubli) and CESCORP (Chamundeshwari) since they did not have LCs.
The notices to BSES and BRYL were served on January 2. NTPC, through its subsidiaries, sought Rs 999 crore from BRPL and Rs 865 crore from BYPL for power bought up to March 2020. NTPC is not pressing for payment of dues after this period when the pandemic shut down the economy for months.