NEW DELHI: The power ministry has put conditions to check possible misuse of the rescue package for stressed coal-fired power stations as well as ensure fair play by both generation and distribution companies on the issue of making payments on time.
The government had in March approved a slew of measures, recommended by a high-level committee, to de-stress power plants with aggregate capacity of 40,000 MW. According to the package, coal linkages of power plants that cancel PPAs (power purchase agreements) because of payment default by discoms were to be valid for two years. This was done to allow generation companies adequate time to look for alternative PPAs.
At a meeting held by power secretary S C Garg last week, it was decided that power stations cancelling PPAs for payment default by discoms will not be allowed to sell electricity bilaterally but only through the government’s DEEP portal or power exchanges at market-determined price for maximum two years.
