Tata Power DDL says North Delhi Municipal Corporation owes it Rs 62.53 crore in electricity bills

NEW DELHI: Tata Power DDL (TPDDL) today said it has not fully paid electricity tax dues to North Delhi Municipal Corporation for two months as the latter has not paid electricity bills totalling over Rs 62 crore.
Claiming that the Corporation owes Rs 62.53 crore in electricity consumption bills, the power distribution company said any further delay in payment of dues may result in blackout of streetlights in North and Northwest Delhi.

"NDMC (North Delhi Municipal Corporation) owes Rs 62.53 crore towards electricity consumption bills for streetlights, high mast lights to TPDDL. These payments/dues are pending for the last two years," TPDDL said in a statement.

The Corporation has not been paying the relevant tariff on electricity consumption as per the notified rates declared by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission DERC, it claimed.

"Owing to non-payments by NDMC, TPDDL was constrained to partly adjust the electricity tax dues for two months from the outstanding payments due from NDMC... Any further delay in payment of dues by NDMC may result in blackout of streetlights in North & Northwest Delhi," TPDDL said.

TPDDL is a joint venture between Tata Power and Delhi government with the majority stake being held by Tata Power (51 per cent).

It distributes electricity in North and North-West parts of Delhi and serves a populace of 6 million.

TPDDL said it had released a payment of Rs 13.23 crore last week, based on discussions with NDMC Mayor, on the understanding that the amount outstanding to TPDDL will be released by NDMC.

Tata Power had approached the Delhi High Court in June, 2014 on the issue and the matter is sub judice, where the court restrained NDMC from initiating any coercive steps against TPDDL.

"NDMC is non-committal on the issue of timely release of payment. The non-payment by NDMC has only contributed to financial constraints at TPDDL, which is struggling with huge unamortised revenue gap and cash flow issues," it said.