Telangana power utilities say ₹4,600 crore due from Andhra Pradesh after settling dues to latter

Against the claims of Andhra Pradesh’s power utilities that its counterparts in Telangana owe ₹6,757 crore in lieu of energy supplied to the latter, the Telangana power utilities have reiterated that even after deducting the dues being claimed by A.P. that State would still owe about ₹4,600 crore on account of various heads.

Against the claims of Andhra Pradesh’s (A.P.) power utilities that its counterparts in Telangana owe ₹6,757 crore in lieu of energy supplied to the latter from June 2, 2014 to June 10, 2017, the Telangana power utilities have reiterated that even after deducting the dues being claimed by A.P. that State would still owe about ₹4,600 crore on account of various heads.

The issue of Telangana’s dues had come up during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha on August 1. In response to YSR Congress Party MP V. Vijay Sai Reddy’s question, Union Minister of Power R. K. Singh had told the House that they were consulting the Ministry of Finance and Law & Justice to decide the approach of the Centre (Ministry of Power) in case a State refuses to pay dues to another State in lieu of energy supplied. It was also being examined to ask the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to whether due amount could be deducted from devolution of taxes to Telangana and paid to Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, sources in the Transmission Corporation of Telangana Limited (TS-Transco), the nodal agency to deal with other agencies on behalf of Discoms, stated that a petition was pending over the issue of dispute of overs dues with A.P. in the Telangana High Court. The court had stayed the MoP order issued in the last week of August 2022 to pay the dues to A.P. within 30 days.

A Bench comprising the Chief Justice had posted the matter, when it heard last in May, for next hearing to June second week and it had also clarified that the stay would hold good till the next hearing and in case the petitioners, Telananga power utilities, had any problem from the MoP they could come back to the Bench.

Following the directions to submit records pertaining to dues, the Telangana utilities too had submitted in detail the amount due from A.P.’s utilities to them on 14 different heads. The sources explained that dues from A.P.’s utilities were on account of debt servicing power plants in Anantapur and Kurnool districts, inter-company deposits for power purchase, Telangana State Power Coordination Committee share remitted APPCC, investment in employee trusts, excess liability physically discharge of TS-Genco towards common loans and others.

When contacted, Chairman and Managing Director of TS-Genco and TS-Transco D. Prabhakar Rao told The Hindu that the “details of dues from A.P.’s utilities to Telangana utilities to the tune of over ₹4,570 crore over and above the claims of dues being made by A.P.’s utilities were submitted to the High Court already and that the stay on the MoP’s order holds good till the matter is heard next”.