India Bars Some States From Power Exchanges as Unpaid Bills Rise
- 13 provinces have been blocked from transacting on exchanges
- Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are among the states facing action
Commercial and residential buildings at dusk in India.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
India has blocked nearly half the country’s provinces from accessing spot power exchanges after they failed to pay bills worth 51 billion rupees ($640 million), as it implements new rules aimed at forcing states to make timely payments.
Thirteen provinces won’t be able to buy or sell electricity at power exchanges until they pay their dues to generators and transmission companies, according to S.R. Narasimhan, chairman at Power System Operation Corp., the country’s central grid operator. Rules introduced in June say that state power retailers will lose access to short-term sources of electricity if they fail to pay within two-and-a-half months from the date bills are raised.