Himachal has got excess power to sell but no buyers

UTTAR PRADESH POWER BODY REFUSES TO PAY
R180 CRORE FOR ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh has excess electricity to sell, but there are no buyers. Adding to its woes is the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is not paying the pending electricity bills.

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) owes about Rs 180 crore for electricity supplied by the state last year.

It was the biggest electricity buyer from Himachal.

The state stopped paying for the electricity supply in June last year. During the summer last year, Himachal had supplied its entire surplus electricity to UPPCL, as it had offered to buy it at a rate of Rs 4.30 per unit, the highest among all the buyer states.

In view of the pending bills, the Himachal government stopped supplying power to Uttar Pradesh in December.

According to official records, UPPCL purchased 200megawatt (MW) electricity in April and 400 MW in May. In the following two months it purchased 623-MW of electricity from Himachal. The UPPCL has not made any payment since June.

"Uttar Pradesh has not paid for the electricity bills since last year. I have spoken to my counterpart and requested him to clear the outstanding payment of Rs 180 crore," chief secretary Sudripta Roy confirmed.

Himachal sells electricity through Power Trading Corporation (PTC). The PTC paid the state from its own resources till August last year.

"Since the elections in Uttar Pradesh were round the corner, it opted to purchase electricity from Himachal, but later stopped and instead resorted to load shedding," said a senior PTC official.

Not just Uttar Pradesh, the state government is yet to recover Rs 120 crore from Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) for its equity in various power projects.

Apart from these pending bills, the state government is not finding any buyers for its surplus electricity generation from different power projects.

None of the buyer states have come forward this year to buy electricity from Himachal.

"Haryana used to purchase electricity from Himachal during summers. But this time round it has not asked," said Roy.

Roy blamed the poor financial condition of distribution companies for this dismal state of affairs. "Power distribution companies (discoms) just don't have enough money to purchase electricity," he said.

The Reserve Bank of India guidelines do not allow discoms to raise loans for electricity.