Lok Sabha Question No. 2189 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-04
Subject: Energy Crisis
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Bheemrao Baswanthrao Patil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF POWER

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2189 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.07.2019

## ENERGY CRISIS

2189.  SHRI B.B. PATIL:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  there  is  any  energy-crisis  in  the  country  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (b) whether power producers sit on thousands of megawatts of underutilized capacities and are facing insolvency proceedings and the consumers are facing power cuts as well as load shedding and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the  details  of  the  major  problems  faced  by  the  power  producers  and  the remedial measures/steps taken/being taken to solve the problems?

## A N S W E R

THE  MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  POWER,  NEW  & RENEWABLE ENERGY AND THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

( SHRI  R.K. SINGH)

- (a) & (b) : As reported by States to Central Electricity Authority (CEA),  during April-May,  2019  the  peak  and  energy  shortages  was  only  0.5%  and  0.4% respectively in the country. Thus, there is no energy crisis in the country. As on 31.05.2019, the installed generation capacity is about 357 Giga Watt (GW) which is  sufficient  to  meet  the  power  demand  of  the  country.  The  maximum  peak demand during the current year was around 183 GW which was successfully met.
- (c) : Government of India constituted a High Level Empowered Committee (HLEC) under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary to address the issues of stressed thermal power projects. The report of the HLEC was submitted on 12.11.18 and was also placed in the public domain on the website of Ministry of Power. HLEC report mentions the major reasons for stress in the Power Sector, which are as follows:
- (i) Issues related to Coal supply,
- (ii) Inability of the Promoter to infuse equity and service debt,
- (iii) Slow implementation of project by the developers,
- (iv) Issues related to Banks/ Financial Institutions (FIs)
- (v) Aggressive tariffs quoted by bidders in competitive bidding process,
- (vi) Regulatory and contractual disputes,
- (vii) Legal issues related to auctioned coal mines,
- (viii) Other  operational  issues  such  as  delay  in  land  acquisitions,  inadequate transmission system etc.

……….2.

Based on High Level Empowered Committee (HLEC) recommendations,  a  Group  of  Ministers  (GoM)  has  made  recommendations regarding  stressed  power  projects.  The  major  recommendations  of  the  GoM  as approved by the Government are:

- I. Grant of linkage coal for short-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
- II. Allowed existing coal linkage to be used in case of termination of PPAs due to payment default by DISCOMs.
- III. Procurement  of  bulk  power  by  a  nodal  agency  against  pre-declared linkages.
- IV. Central/State Gencos may act as an aggregator of power.
- V. Increase in quantity of coal for special forward e-auction for power sector.
- VI. Coal linkage auctions to be held at regular intervals.
- VII. Non-lapsing of short supplies of coal.
- VIII. Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ) to be determined based on efficiency.
- IX. Payment of Late Payment Surcharge (LPS) has been made mandatory.
- X. Non-cancellation of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)/Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA)/ Long Term Open Access (LTOA) post National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) scenario.
- XI. Non-cancellation of PPA for non-compliance of Commercial Operation Date (COD).

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