Power discoms owe dues worth Rs 68 billion to renewable energy developers

As reported, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) stated that power distribution firms throughout the country owed dues amounting to approximately Rs 68.72 billion to renewable energy developers. This includes: Andhra Pradesh: Rs 25.9136 billionTelangana: Rs13.1845 billionKarnataka: Rs 9.3386 billionMadhya Pradesh: Rs 6.1302 billionTamil Nadu: Rs 5.5152 billionMaharashtra: Rs 4.7233 billionRajasthan: Rs 3.3947 billionNTPC: Rs 0.2532 billionUttarakhand: Rs 0.1152 billionSikkim: Rs 0.0636 billionPunjab: Rs 0.0506 billionHimachal Pradesh: Rs 0.0201 billionOdisha: Rs 0.0124 billionUttar Pradesh: Rs 0.0006 billionAlmost 70 per cent of the total payment to be made belongs solely to the three states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.As reportedly stated, CEA, in a letter to the state distribution companies had suggested the importance of monitoring payment of dues to renewable energy companies from state power discoms. This comes at a time when India has set an ambitious target of achieving a renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022, making it all the more crucial to resolve the issue.Additionally, the Power Ministry also made it compulsory for power distribution companies to open and maintain adequate Letters of Credit as a payment security mechanism for signed PPAs with power generating companies. Along with laying out terms for them to pay energy generators fixed charges as per the PPAs, in case power is not procured from these energy generators.