The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) board decided on Tuesday to defer shutting down its power plants in the eastern region by a few weeks. However, there were indications that the respite will be short.
The decision was taken in view of the promise from the Bihar government to pay Rs 300 crore by the end of this month and because of the flood situation in Bengal.
NTPC, which had first decided to close down its units from September 1, shifted the date to September 7 to enable defaulting states to devise plans to clear arrears and make full payment against current drawals.
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However, even the September 7 deadline was allowed to lapse as NTPC board members, some of who went to Patna on Monday to talk to the Bihar government, did not take a decision immediately. The full board met on Tuesday to take stock of the situation and finally deferred the shutdown programme to give Bihar a chance to pay up.
DVC is making almost full payments to NTPC while Orissa has reached an agreement for liquidating a large part of its arrears. Bihar explained that it expects an arrear payment of Rs 300 crore from Coal India by the end of this month and will hand over the entire sum to NTPC.
West Bengal has not made any financial commitment. It has only requested NTPC to defer the planned shutdown in view of the flood situation.
The demand for power in the eastern region is showing a sharp downward trend for the last few days. Much of the demand drop is due to snapping and tripping of transmission and distribution lines in large parts of north Bengal and north Bihar due to floods.
The demand fell by about 600 mw to 5,200 mw during off-peak hours and 400 mw during peak hours to 6,800 mw. NTPC closed down one of its two 500 mw units at Talcher in view of the fall in demand.
West Bengal had told NTPC that it was unable to make the payments because several agencies, including CESC and the state electricity boards of Assam and Andhra Pradesh, had not cleared their dues against energy purchased from WBSEB. So its position is no different from Bihar.
If the deferment is till the end of September, West Bengal will manage to meet the festive season power demand without any difficulty.
However, NTPC was unwilling to defer the shutdown threat for long after having built up the pressure for the last three weeks. Eastern states together owe Rs 2,495 crore to NTPC which equals 12.8 months billing. The national average arrear is 4.9 months billing for each agency.
The total outstanding has risen to Rs 8,040 crore, including late payment surcharge.