Rs 1,600 cr in 60 days: Escoms asked to pay up UPCL

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Nov 18, 2019:  Electricity distribution companies (Escoms) in Karnataka have to pay over Rs 1,600 crore to Adani Udupi Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) in late payment charges following an order by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

 

Senior government officials said the CERC order pertains to late payment surcharges (LPS) between 2010 and 2015 when the escoms and the company, then owned by Nagarjuna Power Corporation Limited, were involved in a dispute over tariff.

Last year, the company moved CERC saying the escoms have continued to delay payments, which has led to the accumulation of LPS with interest.

The CERC also noted that the escoms have not formally disputed late payment charges.

“At no point of time until June 5, 2018 did the Power Company of Karnataka Limited (PCKL) or the Karnataka escoms object to or dispute their liability to pay late payment surcharges for delayed payment of tariff as communicated by the petitioner company,” the CERC held, directing UPCL to send the updated bill to escoms in 15 days and setting a deadline of 60 days for the companies to clear the bill.

An official from PCKL, a company under the KPTCL that facilitates power purchase from private firms to escoms, said that financial indiscipline among escoms as well as lack of legal expertise to avoid errors have led to the problem.

Courtesy:deccanherald.com