Delhi could lose 450 MW from its daily supply if BSES fail to clear dues with power companies.
The mounting dues of Delhi's power distribution companies could trigger an electricity crisis in the city this month.
The Aravali Power Company (APCL), which provides the capital with 450 MW of daily supply, has issued a warning to Reliance Group discoms - BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) - to clear the dues or face supply cut from September 5.
Central and East Delhi could be the worst hit from the mid-monsoon power cut, when the humidity levels are high. Delhi's peak summer demand on May 16 touched 6,044 MW, which is twice the consumption of Mumbai and thrice of Kolkata.
APCPL says the discoms owe an outstanding amount of Rs 960 crore and incur a monthly bill of Rs 85 crore as per rates fixed for 2016-17. Despite the January deadline to clear the dues set by the Supreme Court last year, the Reliance-owned firms have not released the payments.
Aravali Power Company Pvt Ltd. is a joint venture between government's NTPC - which owns a 50 per cent stake - and Delhi government-owned Indraprastha Power Generation Company Ltd and Haryana Power Generation Company Ltd, which own 25 per cent each.
"A notice for regulation of power supply has been served on the BRPL and BYPL which will deprive Delhi of 445 MW of power with effect from 00:00 hrs of September 5, 2016," NTPC said in a statement, adding, "despite clear directions of the Supreme Court, the dues continued to accumulate. Today, the outstanding amounts are Rs 961.58 crore (Rs 695.25 crore of BRPL & Rs 266.33 crore of BYPL."
The two distribution companies were served similar warning earlier, which were withdrawn after they had submitted a payment plan to the Delhi Electricity Regulation Commission (DERC).
"The power companies have to make advance payments to fuel suppliers. The failure to recover dues is creating a situation where the single power station unit will not be able to pay for its operations," said a senior NTPC official.
The government had introduced the UDAY scheme in November last year to help India's discoms deal with the burgeoning debts which have accumulated to Rs 4.3 lakh crore. The companies had reported losses to the tune of Rs 3.8 lakh crore as on March 2015.