Hyderabad: The government’s arrears to TS Transco have reached Rs 13,000 crore. The government has not released power subsidy it owes to the power company since 2014. Besides, Transco has paid for costly power from other producers for which it needs to be reimburse.
The TS government joined the Ujwal Discoms Assurance Yojana (UDAY) introduced by the Centre some years ago. According to the terms of UDAY, the government took over the debt of discoms to the tune of Rs 8,923 crore and issued bonds for Rs 9,000 crore.
It released Rs 7,800 crore to discoms, and Rs 1,200 crore is still pending. Several government departments have not paid power charges for a long time, dues for which have reached Rs 2,600 crore.
Government sources said that the arrears of power subsidy could not be given. If in any year the government does not release subsidy, the amount lapses and is not carried forward.
Officials said the government is facing financial difficulty and is not in a position to pay Transco. Power officials said discoms were facing serious financial issues and if the government does not release arrears their condition would deteriorate even further.
