Electricity generation from Adani Power Jharkhand Ltd (APJL) has been slashed by almost half following a recent amendment to the Indian Power Export Guideline allowing supply to their domestic market.
According to data available with the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), the APJL supplied around 753 megawatt (MW) power on Wednesday.
The supply was 48.38 per cent less than Tuesday's generation of 1,459 MW.
Sources said the guideline was amended on August 12, thereby annulling its exclusivity to sell the power output to Bangladesh.
A statement issued by the APJL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Power Ltd, on Thursday, however, said Adani continued to supply electricity to Bangladesh as per demand.
"Adani Power supplied more than 750 MW to Bangladesh yesterday (Wednesday) and 769 MW today (Thursday) as per the country's demand," it added.
Power is being supplied from an alternative unit as one unit of the Adani plant had to be shut on August 13 for a technical issue, according to the statement.
Following the closure, it said, Adani maintained the standard communications protocol with the BPDB and the Power Grid Company Bangladesh (PGCB).
Although it is unwanted, technical faults sometimes interrupt the operations of power plants globally, including the ones in Bangladesh being operated by local or foreign companies, the statement spelled out.
Thus, excess capacity is built into the system to supply uninterrupted power.
"We regret any inconvenience caused by this technical fault. We're working hard to fix the issue at the earliest and restore the full capacity of power generation," concluded the statement.
The APJL earlier said, "The amendment… is just an industry-enabling universal provision for the exporting power stations in India to establish connection with the Indian grid."
This does not affect the existing Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between Adani Power and the state-run BPDB, reads out a Wednesday statement.
"We've been providing uninterrupted power to Bangladesh from our Godda plant. Adani Power is committed to fulfilling contractual obligations as per BPDB's demand schedule and PPA provisions and would look forward to continuing reciprocal fulfilment by BPDB."
Sources said the outstanding dues due to a delay in payments by the BPDB to the Indian conglomerate against power purchase exceeded $650 million.
The arrears were an estimated $300 million a year ago, they added.
The APJL is the only foreign firm that produces electricity for Bangladesh from its plant outside the receiving country.
Adani has long been pressing the BPDB to clear its dues in time, according to a senior BPDB official.
Dollar crunch was pushing the BPDB to pay only a nominal amount to Adani every month, which was far below monthly bills against power purchases, resulting in huge unpaid bills to Adani, he said.
The BPDB is currently struggling to pay dues to many independent power producers, oil-fired rental and coal-fired plants, according to the official.
Market insiders said power purchase from the APJL turned out to be a 'much-debated' venture since the initiation of power supply from the facility last year.
As the APJL started supply, the BPDB sought a revision of the PPA with the APJL to import electricity from its Jharkhand plant without having any remedy so far.
The deal was done in November 2017 for 25 years to transmit power through a 400kV (kilo-volt) dedicated transmission line connected with the PGCB-operated national power grid. The Transparency International Bangladesh, an anti-graft watchdog, also called for reconsideration and, if necessary, cancellation of the PPA with the APJL.
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