With long outages threatening to become a major political issue ahead of Assembly polls, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has asked Reliance Infra Chairman Anil Ambani to take steps to 'rectify' the problem and ensure round-the-clock electricity supply in the city.
Reliance Infra owns BRPl and BYPl that supply electricity to large parts of the Capital. In a letter to Ambani, Dikshit said that the power supply by BSES Yamuna Power ltd (BYPl) and BSES Rajdhani Power ltd (BRPl) has 'worsened' in the city contrary to the expectations for improvement and asked him to take remedial measures at the earliest.
The Chief Minister said she was 'shocked' to know that the two DISCOMS (Distributed Company) run by Reliance Infrastructure owed dues to the tune of `3,337 crore to two Delhi Government-run power generation and transmission companies. ‘In fact the power supply situation would have been much worse, if not for the generosity of Delhi Government towards Reliance DISCOMS in the interest of consumers. I was shocked when the actual amount of outstanding dues came to my notice,’ she said. Seeking immediate payment of the dues, Dikshit said Reliance Infrastructure should immediately provide financial assistance to its two DISCOMS so that they can pay up the amount.
Dikshit said that the failure of BSES DISCOMS to pay up their dues and strengthen the distribution network further rectifying low consumer satisfaction have the potential to 'derail' the power sector reform in the city. Notably, the city has been facing power cuts ranging for upto 10 hours for quite sometime now and BJP has brought this to notice, further attacking Dikshit for these long outages. ‘The action taken evidently is not sufficient and you are advised to rectify the situation and ensure that the consumers are provided with 24x7 uninterrupted power supply,’ Dikshit said in the letter.
The Chief Minister had last week warned BRPl and BYPl of punitive action if they fail to improve the supply immediately despite adequate availability of electricity. Power Secretary Shakti Sinha said the city has more power than the current demand and blamed the long power-cuts on local faults and other technical problems in the distribution network of BSES DISCOMS which supply power in 70 per cent areas of the city. He said no complaint of long power cuts has been received from areas served by Tata Power Delhi Distribution ltd (TPDDl).
In the letter, Dikshit said the TPDDl, working with the same regulatory framework, never defaulted on payment of dues to power generation and transmission companies. Dikshit said BYPl owes `1,060 crore to Government's power generation company Pragati Power Corporation ltd while the BRPl has outstanding amount of `1,147 crore till April. ‘No money has been paid since January 2013 and over the last year not even 50 per cent of the current dues has been liquidated by these two companies...If they are not able to meet payments for the fuel then Delhi may see a drastic fall in electricity generation,’ said the Chief Minister. She said the BRPl owes another amount of `686 crore to Delhi Transco ltd, the Government-run power firm that maintains major transmission lines, while BYPl has not paid it dues of Rs 444 crore.
The two companies owe around `311 crore to Damodar Valley Corporation, the State-run power generation company that supplies almost 500 megawatt to Delhi daily. The two companies also owe crores to Power Grid Corporation of India ltd (PGCIl).
It may be noted that the DERC in November 2011 had threatened to suspend license of the BSES DISCOMS for failing to clear huge dues to the generation companies.