IN THE APPELLATE TRIBUNAL FOR ELECTRICITY (Appellate Jurisdiction)

APPEAL No. 184 of 2023 Dated: 30^th May, 2025 Present: Hon’ble Mr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Technical Member Hon’ble Mr. Virender Bhat, Judicial Member In the matter of:

M/s Renew Clean Energy Private Limited Through its Assistant Manager, 138, Ansal Chamber – II Bikaji Cama Place, New Delhi – 110006 Email: kuhoo.saxena@renewpower.in …

Appellant Versus

1. Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission Through its Registrar

5^th Floor, Metro Plaza, Arera Colony, Bittan Market, Bhopal – 462 016 Email: mercindia@merc.gov.in

2. Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Limited Represented through Chairman & Managing Director Shakti Bhawan, Block No. 11, Rampur, Jabalpur – 482 008 Email: customercare@mahadiscom.in … Respondent (s)

Counsel for the Appellant(s) : Mannat Waraich Mridul Gupta Ashabari Basu Thakur Ananya Goswami for App.

Counsel for the Respondent(s) : Preeti Goel for Res. 1 Nitin Gaur for Res. 2

J U D G M E N T

PER HON’BLE MR. VIRENDER BHAT, JUDICIAL MEMBER

1. The Appellant is aggrieved by the order dated 15^th June, 2022 for the 1^st Respondent Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”) whereby the Commission, while holding that introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) w.e.f. 1^st July, 2017 constitutes Change in Law in terms of Article 11.6.3. of the PPA executed between the Appellant and 2^nd Respondent, restricted its additional burden upon the expenditure incurred by the Appellant upto Scheduled Commercial Operation Date (SCOD) of the project only, rejected the claim of the Appellant for additional tax burden due to GST on O&M expenses and denied carrying cost to the Appellant on incremental expenditure due to GST. 2. The Appellant – M/s Renew Clean Energy Private Limited is a Independent Power Producer (IPP) of clean energy with more than 5600 MW of commissioned and under construction clean energy assets and has set up a number of wind and solar power projects in India. The Appellant is a generating company as defined in Section

2(28) of the Electricity, Act, 2003.

3. The 2^nd Respondent – Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Ltd. (in short “MPPMCL”) is holding company of all the Madhya Pradesh Discoms and entrusted with responsibility of procuring power on behalf of the Discoms who are engaged in the distribution and retail supply of power within the State of Madhya Pradesh.

4. The 2^nd Respondent issued a request for proposal (RFP) on 6^th May, 2015 for procurement of 300 MW solar power. In pursuance to the said RFP, the Appellant was selected as a solar power developer for development of 51 MW capacity of solar PV ground mount project at Village Jaitpur, Rajgarh Taluk M.P. Letter of Intent dated 22^nd October, 2015 was issued to the Appellant in this regard.

5. Thereafter, the Appellant entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) dated 10^th May, 2015 with 2^nd Respondent – MPPMCL for setting up of the solar PV ground mount project and for the consequent sale of solar power to the 2^nd Respondent. Subsequently, in accordance with the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 5^th April, 2018 location of the project was changed from Jaitpur village to Village Bhansara, Taluk Shadro District Ashok Nagar, Madhya Pradesh. This change of location was recorded between the parties by way of supplementary PPA dated 16^th August, 2018.

6. In the meanwhile, Goods and Services Tax Act was introduced w.e.f 1^st July, 2017 which changed the indirect taxation regime in India, resulting in paradigm shift by subsuming various old taxes and introducing new taxation.

7. The Appellant filed a petition No. 54 of 2018 under Section 86 of the Electricity Act, 2003 read with Article 11.6.4. of the PPA before the Commission seeking approval that the implementation of GST laws w.e.f. 1^st July, 2017 constitutes an event of Change in Law under the PPA and further seeking compensation consequent to such Change in Law event. The Commission fou