SHILLONG, MAR 3: Power Minister James K Sangma on Wednesday sought the intervention of the Union Power Minister, Raj Kumar Singh into the sudden disruption of power supply in the state.
During the meeting, James informed that the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) had recently invoked the Letter of Credit thereby restricting Short Term Open Access (STOA) through NERLDC resulting in the disruption of power in the State.
James also informed that the state government had already expressed its commitment to repay outstanding energy dues and late payment surcharges by availing Rs 1,345 crore Atma Nirbhar Bharat scheme loan and even disbursing Rs 100 crore out of the Rs 630 crore of the same to the NTPC from the first tranche.
The state power minister accordingly requested the Union power minister to intervene in the matter and consider revoking the restrictions at NERLDC at the earliest.
On Tuesday, a meeting was also chaired by the Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma to discuss the sudden load shedding that the MeECL had to impose in the entire state due to regulation of power by the NTPC.
When asked, James had told reporters that the state has to face this problem now was because of an order issued by the Ministry of Power in 2019 to all states on opening and maintaining adequate ‘letter of credit’ as ‘payment security mechanism’ under power purchase agreements by distribution licensees.
“The letter of credit (LC) is amounting to around Rs 18 crore and we have to make this LC available to them (generating company). Though we have stopped drawing power since 2017 from the NTPC< due to high tariffs. However despite that, we still have to pay because they have charged us the fix charges. The fixed charges have accumulated over the years, and though we do not draw power from them, because of an order from the ministry of power, they have the power to regulate our power supply,” James had informed.
On outstanding dues to be paid to NEEPCO and other generating companies, the minister said that the state has availed a loan under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (ABA) scheme to enable the state distribution companies pay their pending dues to different generating companies that supply power.
“The state has availed a loan under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and payments are being made to them,” he added.
He said that 25 per cent of payment was distributed on a certain ratio to the generation and transmission companies, and with this, the process of clearing outstanding dues has been set in motion.
By Our Reporter
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