As many as 13 states — Tamil Nadu, Telangana, MP, Mizoram, Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Andhra, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh — have been barred from buying and selling on power exchange platforms, people in the know of the matter said.
The move could make power outages more common in the affected states.
This move is the result of the rules framed by the Ministry of Power for non-payment of dues by the discoms and gencos. The move, under the new Late Payment Surcharge (LPS) rules, will be applicable from August 19.
The LPS rules bar discoms from power exchanges if they don't pay pending dues to gencos for over seven months. Discoms from the 13 states will attract action under the new Electricity (Late Payment Surcharge) Rules.
"Buy and sell transactions in all products of power market are restricted for discoms with high dues," sources told CNBC-TV18.
This news put the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) under pressure as volumes traded on the IEX in the near term could get affected.
The power trading platform's stock ended nearly 3.6 percent lower on the BSE on Thursday at Rs 166.35 apiece.
This is the first time over a dozen states have been barred together.
The sources said such instances, of states being barred, have occurred in the past, too. But the restrictions were put on few states and removed in sometime after they cleared their dues in a matter of days.
Sources said trading on power exchanges was extended for a few hours on Thursday after some of the states made a request.
The total pending dues of state discoms to gencos are Rs 5,085 crore.
States | Pending dues |
Telangana | Rs 1,380.96 crore |
Tamil Nadu | Rs 926.16 crore |
Rajasthan | Rs 500.66 crore |
J&K | Rs 434.81 crore |
Andhra Pradesh | Rs 412.69 crore |
Maharashtra | Rs 381.66 crore |
Karnataka | Rs 355.20 crore |
Madhya Pradesh | Rs 229.11 crore |
Jharkhand | Rs 214.47 crore |
Bihar | Rs 173.50 crore |
Chhatisgarh | Rs 27.49 crore |
Manipur | Rs 29.94 crore |
Mizoram | Rs 17.23 crore |
First Published: Aug 18, 2022 5:38 PM IST