Representative Image | Photo courtesy: Reuters
Adani Power Jharkhand Limited (APJL), a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Adani Power, shut down half of its power supply to Bangladesh due to an outstanding bill of $846 million, according to a local media report on Friday (November 1, 2024). Is.
Data from Power Grid Bangladesh PLC showed that the Adani plant reduced supply on Thursday (November 1, 2024) night. The Daily Star The newspaper said.
Shortage of more than 1,600 MW
Bangladesh reported a shortfall of more than 1,600 megawatts (MW) on the intervening night of October 31 and November 1, as the 1,496 MW plant is now producing 700 MW from one unit, the newspaper reported.
Earlier, Adani Company had written a letter to the Power Secretary asking Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) to clear its dues by October 30.
The letter dated October 27 said that if the bills are not paid, the company will be obliged to take remedial action under the power purchase agreement (PPA) by suspending power supply on October 31.
The company said PDB has neither provided a letter of credit (LC) from Bangladesh Agricultural Bank for an amount of $170.03 million nor paid the outstanding amount of $846 million.
The newspaper quoted a PDB official as saying that they had earlier paid a part of the previous dues, but since July, Adani has been charging more than in previous months.
He said PDB was paying around $18 million weekly, while the fees were more than $22 million.
“That is why the outstanding payment has increased again,” he said, adding that he had also deposited last week’s payment to the Agricultural Bank, but due to shortage of dollars, the bank was unable to open a letter of credit against the payment. I failed.
Regarding the additional payment, he said, when PDB raised questions on coal pricing in February last year, they signed a supplementary agreement which allowed Adani to pay coal prices lower than the rates charged by other coal-fired power plants. Forced to tell.
The report said that after the tenure of the supplementary deal of one year, Adani has again started charging as per the PPA.
According to the PPA, coal prices are calculated based on the average price of two coal indices, the Indonesian Coal Index and the Australian Newcastle Index, which adds up to the prices.
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Adani said that during the period of suspension of supplies, the company reserves the right to recover capacity payment under clause 13.2(1) of the PPA.
Adani has been pressurizing the interim government to pay the dues ever since it assumed power after the ouster of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
On 8 August, an interim government was installed in Bangladesh under the leadership of Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani had also written a letter to Chief Advisor Yunus.
published – November 01, 2024 06:24 PM IST