The Delhi Government is likely to come out with a solution tomorrow to resolve the crisis arising out of Reliance Infrastructure-backed discom BSES’ failure to pay Rs 3,000 crore to various power generating firms including NTPC.
Sources said the issue would be discussed in a Cabinet meeting tomorrow where a final decision is likely to be taken.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had last week met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him of the situation. Dikshit also held a meeting today with city Power Minister Harun Yusuf where the matter was discussed. Earlier, Dikshit said she will brief Power Minister Sushil Kumar Sindhe about the looming crisis facing the national capital as power generation firms threatened to cut power supply to BSES for failing to pay their dues. “I already met the PM. We are holding detailed deliberations on the issue. We will take opinions of Union Power Ministry also before taking a final decision,” Dikshit said.
Delhi’s power regulator DERC had also set a deadline of December 27 to the city Government to clear its stand on how a whoppingRs 3,000 crore would be arranged to pay the power generation firms if licence of BSES to operate in the city was cancelled for defaulting on the payments.
The NTPC has threatened to cut supply of 2,000 MW of power to BSES if it fails to pay the dues by January 7. If NTPC stops supply of power to BSES, then it may lead to a blackout in 70 per cent of the areas in Delhi.
Sources said BSES has informed Delhi government that it was ready to infuseRs 500 crore as fresh equity and requested the government to do the same so that aroundRs 1,000 crore could be generated which then could be used for getting a loan ofRs 5,000 crore.
BSES had approached IDBI Bank and Power Finance Corporation for a loan ofRs 5,000-crore but the company was told to arrange at least 20 per cent of the loan amount (Rs 1,000 crore) on its own to get the loan.
The DERC had slapped notices on BSES on November 25 asking why its licenses should not be suspended for failing to clear huge dues to the generation companies and said if the Commission was not satisfied with replies by the discom, then it may suspend the license and appoint an administrator to discharge the functions of the licensees. The discom, replying to a fresh notice earlier this week, could not satisfy the DERC on arranging the funds following which the regulator had asked Delhi government to clear its stand on the issue. Top officials said before deciding on infusing fresh equity, Delhi Government would verify with the IDBI bank and Power Finance Corporation whether they are offering any loan to the discom. Last month NTPC had given a deadline of December 7 to the BSES to pay the dues but following an intervention by the Chief Minister the state-run power generation company had agreed to extend it by a month. In an earlier submission, Delhi government had informed DERC that it would not provide any financial assistance to BSES or bailout package.
