Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation?s (UPPCL) chickens have come home to roost. With outstanding dues of R8,636 crore on July 5 ? which the corporation says it has reduced to R4,500 crore now ? the loss-making UPPCL finds it no longer has enough money to buy power from generating entities in the state.

Normally, these units should be able to sell this power outside the state, but with state-owned dispatch centres often not giving permission to do so, power capacity often gets wasted. In any case, with overall losses of the electricity sector rising to R2 lakh crore, the capacity of other state-owned power corporations isn?t that much better. The government is working on a relief package for all states, but with the banks and RBI yet to sign on, it is not clear when the package will be approved.

Anil Ambani?s Rosa Power has been one of the first casualties with UPPCL unable to buy power from more than two of its four plants since July 4, but there are many more suppliers in the same boat with the government buying power under 40% of the total installed power capacity in the state.

While dues to Ambani?s 1,200 MW Rosa plant amount to R373 crore, other dues include R700 crore to cogeneration plants, R133 crore to Bajaj Energy, R585 crore to NTPC, R159 crore to NPCIL, R156 crore to NHPC, R113 crore to THDC and R154 crore to PGCIL. In addition, there are R2,000 crore of dues from last year for power bought from other states last year. ?In the beginning of July, our dues had shot up to R8,386 crore but we have made some payments in the last week bringing down the total to R4,500 crore now. We are trying to make arrangements for more funds so as to clear the remaining dues as soon as possible,? said an official of UPPCL on condition of anonymity.

As per Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC) daily report, units 1 and 4 of Rosa TPS have been ?manually closed by the plant due to commercial dispute with the UPPCL? and while unit 1 was manually tripped at 22.24 hours on July 4, unit 4 was tripped at 23.59 on the same date. Out of the 1200 MW total installed capacity in Rosa, the plant is generating an average 546 MW only.

As per NRLDC?s daily report, the state has an effective installed capacity of 9,975 MW, but the generation from these projects is a paltry 3,563 MW.

?While many plants are undergoing annual renovation and maintenance work, some like one 600 MW unit of Lanco?s Anpara C are closed due to coal shortage since June 27,? said an official, adding Rosa too was operating with the help of high-cost imported coal for some time, resulting in high power tariff of R5.34 per unit.

?With UPPCL defaulting on payments and in no position to buy power at the rate of Rs 5.34 per unit, especially when power was being sold below Rs 4 per unit in the open market, thanks mainly to the monsoons reducing demand, we had no option but to shut down our units rather than run them on imported coal at an unviable price,? said an official of Reliance on condition of anonymity.