Imkong Walling
Dimapur | May 28
The department of Power defaulting in clearing surcharge bills for overdrawing is nothing new. According to information sourced from records maintained in the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) website, the department has faced similar predicaments even in the past, and as recent as 2010-11.
The CERC had initiated suo-motu proceeding and issued show cause notice to the department in an order dating to October 2010. The summon was regard to a petition filed by the North Eastern Regional Load Dispatch Centre for “Default in payment of Unscheduled Interchanges (UI) charges for energy drawn in excess of the drawn schedule by Department of Power, Government of Nagaland.” The NERLDC had reported that an amount of Rs. 14.14 crore was outstanding against Nagaland as on August 31, 2010 for drawing power beyond the allocated amount.
Partial clearing of the ‘overdrawal’ bills and a number of summonses later, the backlog dues were finally cleared, plus dues accrued during the intervening period, in June 2011.
The department is facing a similar situation at present as well. It is now confirmed that the department has outstanding dues amounting to Rs. 4 crore for the month of March and April. The due date or dateline, by which time, the bill must be cleared is drawing near, it is learned. UI charges for the month preceding March, and tipped at more than 10 crore, are reported to have been cleared.
Now, the explanation of the department is that the present ‘load-shedding’ menace is in no way related to the backlog in monetary dues. On the other hand “Nagaland is regarded as the best customer (power purchaser or bill payer) among the NE states”, is one claim made by the department.
Allegations of unpaid dues and strict government directive not to over draw notwithstanding, Power officials claim that the CERC has laid down strict guidelines on ‘over drawing’ beyond the scheduled or allocated amount at any given point of time.
By-passing the guideline will result in incurring heavy penalty, in serious cases, even to the extent of discontinuing transmission to the defaulting state. It is further explained that unscheduled over-drawing will have negative impact on the generating stations, leading to damage.
Money amounting to a total of Rs. 200 crore was said to have been spent on power purchase during the year 2011-12. The amount included Rs. 30 crore as surcharge for ‘unscheduled interchanges charges for energy drawn in excess of the drawn schedule’. Whereas, the revenue generated during the period was said to be around Rs. 86 crore (inclusive of revenue collected from selling surplus power or power trading).
For 2012-2013, the projected expenditure is tipped at around Rs. 300 crore, while the expected revenue is half of the expenditure. As of now, Nagaland is said to be having around 2 lakh registered consumers. During the financial year 2010-11, the department incurred Rs. 160 crore on power purchases in return for Rs. 83 crore in revenue
