NTPC’s board defers fixed power charge payment by discoms
NEW DELHI : As part of the relief measures announced for the fund-starved electricity distribution companies (discoms) in the stimulus package, state owned NTPC Ltd has deferred the fixed charges for the lockdown period, even if the discoms haven’t bought the electricity contracted for.
The current tariff mechanism has two parts—a fixed cost, which is the investment incurred towards power generation equipment, and a variable cost or the cost of fuel. Even if a discom doesn’t buy the electricity contracted for, it has to pay the fixed cost. The government recently announced a temporary relief in the electricity tariff structure that involved deferring the fixed-cost component even if states don’t buy the electricity contracted for.
This assumes importance given that NTPC with an installed capacity of 62,110 mega watt (MW) through 70 power projects, accounts for nearly a fifth of India’ installed power generation capacity of 370 gigawatt (GW)
