New scheme in the works to push discoms clear dues of over Rs 83k cr
New Delhi: The Union government is working on a scheme to push state distribution utilities to pay more than Rs 83,500 crore they owe to power producers within six months, power and renewable energy minister RK Singh told ET.
“We are working on a schedule for repayment of legacy dues of distribution companies to power plants. We will give six months time (from the launch of the scheme) to discoms to make the payments. We will offer incentives for on-time payments and penalise states if the discoms do not comply,” he said.
He said the incentives and penalties are being worked out by the power ministry and the scheme will be announced soon.
According to data available on the power ministry’s Praapti Portal, as of September 2019, the outstanding payments of distribution companies to power plants totalled Rs 83,588 crore. Of this, the overdue outstanding amount is Rs 69,139 crore. Rajasthan, UP, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Goa and Karnataka are the big defaulters.
