JUDGMENT

PER HON’BLE MR. VIRENDER BHAT, JUDICIAL MEMBER

1. Both the captioned appeals have been filed against the common order dated 13th June, 2019 passed by 1st Respondent – Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”) and arise out of identical facts and circumstances.

Hence, both the appeals are proposed to disposed off vide this common judgement.

2. The Appellants in both the appeals are captive power generators having installed 500 kw solar photo voltaic captive power plants each for their captive use.

3. The 2nd Respondent is a Distribution Licensee in Jaipur within whose area the solar power projects of the Appellants are located. The 3rd Respondent is a company established by the Government of Rajasthan under the provisions of Rajasthan Power Sector Reforms Act, 1999 and State Transmission Utility (STU).

4. The 4th Respondent – Rajasthan Urja Vikas Nigam Limited is a company incorporated under the Companies Act by Rajasthan Government in the year 2015 to carry out trading business for State Power Sector Discoms.

5. The 5th Respondent is a State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) for the State of Rajasthan performing statutory functions as provided under the relevant provisions of Electricity Act, 2003.

6. The 6th Respondent State Power Committee had been constituted by 3rd Respondent – STU under Regulation 4.1 of Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (Rajasthan Electricity Grid Code) Regulations, 2008 for its effective implementation. The 7th Respondent is another Distribution Licensees in the State of Rajasthan.

7. The location of generating stations of the Appellants and their captive generation unit fall within the are of Respondent Nos. 7 & 2 respectively.

8. The captive power plants of the Appellants were commissioned on 6th April, 2017.

9. The power evacuation permission for the power plants of the Appellants was granted by Respondent No. 3 vide letter dated 27th March, 2017. Subsequently, the Appellants entered into Wheeling and Banking Agreement (WBA) dated 29th March, 2017 with Respondent No. 2 for feeding the power into the grid for their captive use.

10. Even though, the power project for the Appellants was commissioned on 6th April, 2017 the Long Term Open Access (LTOA) agreements were executed by them with Respondent No. 3 only on 4th October, 2017 for transmission of power from their captive plants.

11. It appears that the power plants of the Appellants had started generating electricity on the date of commissioning i.e. 6th April, 2017 and had been injecting power into the grid since that day without waiting for formal execution of LTOA agreement. Accordingly, the Appellants raised their respective invoices seeking energy adjustment as per the Wheeling and Banking agreement (WBA) dated 29th March, 2017 for the period from 6th April, 2017 to 4th October, 2017. However, these invoices were returned by Respondent No. 4 vide letters dated 16th October 2017 and 17th October, 2017 stating that the invoices are not as per Clause 5(A) of WBA. The Respondent No. 4 also took the stand that the Appellants were not entitled to any energy adjustment for the period from 6th April, 2017 to 4th October, 2017. In doing so, the Respondent No. 4 also relied upon the undertaking dated 30th March, 2017 furnished by the Appellants at the time of seeking LTOA wherein they undertook not to claim for any adjustment and shall supply free energy generated from their captive power plants to Jodhpur Discom till the execution of LTOA.

12. In these circumstances, the Appellants had approached the Commission by way of two separate petitions bearing No. 1427 of 2018 and 1425 of 2018 respectively seeking energy adjustment with regards to the energy injected into the grid from their respective power plants between 6th April, 2017 and 4th October, 2017 along with further ancillary reliefs. A similar petition bearing No. 1428 of 2018 was also filed by another captive power generator namely M/s Radha Mohan Buil