NTPC recalls notice to BSES, gets assurance on payment

NTPC has accepted the assurances of Reliance Infrastructure's distribution arms and withdrawn its threat to black out large parts of Delhi due to non-payment of bills. 

The state-run power giant had issued a notice to BSES Rajdhani Power Limited and BSES Yamuna Power Limited, saying electricity supply to these utilities would be stopped from Wednesday as they had not paid bills amounting to 900 crore. "BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna have given a written assurance to NTPC that they are going to unconditionally restore the Letter of Credit, clear the balance outstanding dues and also undertake to pay the arrears in six equal installments before March 2012. With this assurance, NTPC has decided to recall the 'Regulation Notice' served on these two companies," NTPC said in a statement. BSES has struggled to pay the bills because power tariffs had not been revised for the five years, while costs rose. The companies defaulted for the first time since power distribution was privatised in Delhi about a decade ago. BSES has 2.8 million consumers in various parts of the capital, except for the northern region, which is controlled by the Tata group entity North Delhi Power Limited.