VIJAYAWADA: The State government has extended guarantee as sought by the power distribution companies (discoms) to raise a loan of Rs 6,600 crore from Power Finance Corporation (PFC) Ltd/ Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) Ltd under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan scheme announced by the Centre as an economic stimulus to overcome COVID19 crisis.
The discoms will now send their applications to PFC/REC, which will directly credit the loan amount into the accounts of eligible power generators, as per the guidelines. According to the order (MS 17) issued on Sunday by Energy secretary Nagulapalli Srikant, the discoms will use the loans for making payments towards power purchases.
As on March 31, 2020, the discoms accumulated power purchase dues of Rs 6,673.31 crore (excluding the state generators). Similarly, receivables from the government (subsidy arrears and others) stood at Rs 10,827.27 crore by the end of 2019-20 fiscal. The officials said that as per the guidelines of the stimulus programme, loan would be given to whichever is lower between receivables to discoms from the government and payables by discoms to generators.
Hence, the AP Power Coordination Committee sought government guarantee for Rs 6,673.31 crore. The government has given guarantee for raising Rs 6,600 crore. Along with the application, the discoms will also send their liquidation plan for government receivables and timely payment plan and timeline for installing prepaid smart meters in government offices.
According to the liquidation plan, the discoms, which are yet to get Rs 10,827.87 crore from the government as 2019-20 dues, expects to get Rs 19,095 crore, Rs 18,259 crore and Rs 18,259.87 crore in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively. About 3.15 lakh prepaid meters will be installed with an estimated cost of Rs 265.89 crore in all the government offices in six months.