Adani Power has recently revealed that it still has 900 million USD dues from the Bangladesh Power board. The Bangladesh Power Development Board remains the only discom that is currently in arrears with Adani Power. This revelation comes after the Adani Group reduced its power supply by half and shut down one of the two Adani Godda power plants because the discom failed to meet its payment obligations.
Adani Power Talks About The Non-Payment Of Dues By The Bangladesh Power Development Board:
Adani Power has recently confirmed that it is yet to receive 900 million USD arrears from the Bangladesh Power Development Board for the supplied power from the Adani Godda power plant in Jharkhand. As of now, the total billing that the Adani Group has done so far is around 2 billion USD. Out of that, the company has already received 1.207 billion USD. The company has also billed a late payment surcharge (LPS) of 136 million USD. As of now, the gross basis including LPS is currently around 900 million USD. The Adani Group has already urged the Bangladesh government to clear the dues. Despite the arrears, India’s largest private thermal producer has continued to supply power to Bangladesh.
The Current State Of The Adani Godda Project:
Currently, the Adani Group is supplying full power to Bangladesh. Even amidst the financial distress, the conglomerate did not take the decision to stop the power supply. In the last quarter, the outstanding dues have gone down by INR 500 crores. The payment that the Adani Group is currently getting is more than the monthly billings. The company is currently hopeful that it will not only get the payment equivalent to the current monthly billing but the arrears will also be gradually liquidated. The payments that are currently coming up are also showing that indication.
As of now, there is no delay in payment from any other companies to which the Adani Group is supplying power. The only discom that has gross overdue is from Bangladesh.
What Caused The Dues To Mount Up?
During the late 2024s, Bangladesh started facing various challenges in meeting the payment obligations. This was mainly because of increased import costs and various political instabilities which occurred in the country. A lot of protests were held which caused the ouster of the former prime minister Hasina Sheikh. An interim government was formed which started taking care of the various affairs of the state. However, amidst all these ongoing controversies, the Bangladesh government found it difficult to clear the various dues. It was no longer able to continue to make payments for the projects. This is because the Adani Group was forced to reduce the power supply. However, it has never completely stopped supplying power to Bangladesh.
A Brief Overview Of The Adani Godda Power Plant:
The Adani Group started supplying electricity to Bangladesh from the Adani Godda powerplant on 26 June 2023. This was following the commercial commissioning of the plant’s second unit having a capacity of 800 MW. The Adani Godda power plant is an ultra-supercritical thermal power plant. It is also the largest thermal independent power plant which was constructed to export power only to Bangladesh. It was the first power plant in the country which started its operations from the first stage itself with zero water discharge and other sustainable technologies.
The first unit of the plant achieved its commercial operations on 6th April 2023. This plant has a total capacity of 1,600 MW. It was developed under the 25-year power purchase agreement which was signed in November 2017 between Adani Power Limited and the BPDB. The electricity is transmitted to Bangladesh via a 900 kV transmission line. The power purchase agreement also envisaged significantly reducing the per unit cost of power by decreasing the dependency on power generated from liquid fuel.
Conclusion:
Even amidst the various challenges, the Adani Group has continued to supply power from the Adani Godda power plant to Bangladesh. Although the group was forced to reduce the power supply to half, it has never stopped supplying electricity altogether. Once the dues are complete, the group will be able to ensure that the pact between India and Bangladesh is upheld and the Adani Group is able to continue to supply electricity to Bangladesh for the entire span of 25 years and even longer.