East, central Delhi face power crisis

Fear of massive power cuts from Sunday loomed large over areas of east and central Delhi as power generation company NTPC stood firm on its threat to stop power supply to a city discom from February 11.

Reliance Infra-owned BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) owes around Rs 120 crore to NTPC for the power it drew in December. NTPC has now given a notice to the discom stating that in case it fails to pay, power supply will be discontinued.

BYPL said it did not have money. Preparing for the February 11 eventuality, it informed the Delhi government of 10- hour power cuts daily in many areas of east and central Delhi from Sunday.

Sources said the Delhi government was holding talks with the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission and NTPC to avert this.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal continued to maintain that the discoms were fudging data. 

“They are claiming that they do not have money in their accounts. Where has the money gone? Why are they lying about their accounts? Let the CAG complete the audit of their accounts, then everything will be clear. After CAG's report, we would get to know whether they are really facing a financial crisis or not,” Kejriwal said on Saturday.

On Friday, Kejriwal threatened the discoms that their licences will be cancelled if they resorted to power cuts. Despite Kejriwal’s warning, BYPL announced power cuts.

On January 29, BYPL sought immediate financial assistance from the government to deal with the situation.

The two Reliance Infra-backed discoms, BRPL and BYPL, which supply power to 70 per cent of Delhi, owe around Rs 4,000 crore to Delhi government-run power generation and transmission companies.

According to government figures, private discoms operating in the city have a revenue gap of a whopping Rs 19,500 crore.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission increased the power tariff up to 8 per cent, but the discoms said it was not enough to meet their demands.