IN THE APPELLATE TRIBUNAL FOR ELECTRICITY (Appellate Jurisdiction)

APPEAL NO. 22 OF 2020 &

APPEAL NO. 68 OF 2021 Dated: 24.06.2025 Present: Hon’ble Mr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Technical Member Hon’ble Mr. Virender Bhat, Judicial Member Appeal No. 22 of 2020 IN THE MATTER OF:

M/s Nabha Power Limited Aspire Tower, 4^th Floor, Plot No. 55, Industrial and Business Park, Phase-I, Chandigarh-160002. …Appellant(s)

Versus

1. Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission Site No. 3, Block No. B, Sector 18-A, Madhya Marg, Chandigarh-160018.

2. Engineer-In-Chief, Thermal Designs Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd.

PSPCL, Shed No. T-2, Thermal Design Complex, Patiala – 147001. … Respondent(s)

Counsel for the Appellant(s) : Mr. Shri Venkatesh Mr. Shryeshtha Ramesh Sharma Mr. Ashutosh KumaR Srivastava Mr. Bharat Gangadhran Mr. Abhishek Nangia Mr. Nihal Bhardwaj Mr. Siddharth Nigotia Mr. Shivam Kumar Mr. Kartikay Trivedi Mr. Mohit Gupta Mr. Aashwyn Singh Mr. Punyam Bhutani Mr. Harsh Vardhan Mr. Suhael Buttan Ms. Himangi Kapoor Mr. Anant Singh Ms. Priya Dhankar Mr. Vineet Kumar Mr. Aditya Tiwari Ms. Nehal Jain Mr. Nikunj Bhatnagar Mr. Kunal Veer Chopra Mr. Vedant Choudhary Mr. Aayush Sinha Counsel for the Respondent(s) : Mr. Dhananjay Baijal for R-1 Mr. M. G. Ramachandran, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Sakya Singha Chaudhuri Mr. Avijeet Lala Ms. Nameeta Singh Ms. Gayatri Aryan for R-2 Appeal No. 68 of 2021 IN THE MATTER OF:

Punjab State Power Corporation Limited Through : Dy. Chief Engineer/Fuel, The Mall, Patiala, Patiala, Punjab -147001. …Appellant(s)

Versus

1. The Secretary Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission Site No. 3, Block No. B, Sector 18-A, Madhya Marg, Chandigarh-160018.

2. Nabha Power Limited, Through : Managing Director, Aspire Tower, 4^th Floor, Plot No. 55, Industrial and Business Park, Phase – I, Chandigarh – 160 002. … Respondent(s)

Counsel for the Appellant(s) : Mr. M. G. Ramachandran, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Sakya Singha Chaudhuri Mr. Avijeet Lala Ms. Nameeta Singh Ms. Gayatri Aryan Ms. Narayani Anand Counsel for the Respondent(s) : Mr. Dhananjay Baijal for R-1 Mr. Shri Venkatesh Mr. Shryeshtha Ramesh Sharma Mr. Ashutosh KumaR Srivastava Mr. Bharat Gangadhran Mr. Abhishek Nangia Mr. Nihal Bhardwaj Mr. Siddharth Nigotia Mr. Shivam Kumar Mr. Kartikay Trivedi Mr. Mohit Gupta Mr. Aashwyn Singh Mr. Punyam Bhutani Mr. Harsh Vardhan Mr. Suhael Buttan Ms. Himangi Kapoor Mr. Anant Singh Ms. Priya Dhankar Mr. Vineet Kumar Mr. Aditya Tiwari Ms. Nehal Jain Mr. Nikunj Bhatnagar Mr. Kunal Veer Chopra Mr. Vedant Choudhary Mr. Aayush Sinha for R-2

JUDGEMENT

PER HON’BLE MR. SANDESH KUMAR SHARMA, TECHNICAL MEMBER

1. The Captioned Appeals have been filed as cross appeals, i.e., Appeal No. 22 of 2020 by Nabha Power Ltd. (in short “NPL”) and Appeal No. 68 of 2021 by Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. (in short “PSPCL”) assailing the Impugned Order dated 04.12.2019 in Petition No. 28 of 2018 passed by the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (in short “PSERC” or “Commission”).

2. NPL has challenged the Impugned Order to the limited extent that the PSERC has denied grant of post-facto approval qua a quantum of 1.18005 LMT of alternate coal (out of the total 3.55 LMT) and erroneously enlarged the period in dispute from October 2017-March 2018 to April 2017-March 2018, whereas, PSPCL has challenged the same Impugned Order to the extent that the PSERC has granted post-facto approval and allowed pass-through of cost of procurement of 2.36995 Lakh MT of imported coal.

Description of Parties

3. Nabha Power Ltd. (NPL), the Appellant in Appeal No. 22 of 2020 and Respondent No. 2 in Appeal No. 68 of 2021, is a generating company having set up a 2 x 700 MW Rajpura Thermal Power Project situated in Nalash village near Rajpura town in Patiala district in the State of Punjab.

4. Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. (PSPCL), Respondent No. 2 in the first captioned Appeal No. 22 of 2020 and the Appellant in Appeal No. 68 of 2021, is the Distribution Licensee, inter alia, signed a PPA with NP