The court affirmed the regulatory authority's decision to approve the truing-up of transmission tariff and associated operational costs under specified provisions of the Electricity Act and related regulations.

ORDER

The instant Petition has been filed by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) for truing-up of the transmission tariff for the 2019-24 period, in terms of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations , 2019 (hereinafter referred to as “the 2019 Tariff Regulations”) and the determination of transmission tariff for the 2024-29 tariff period, in terms of the , 2024 (hereinafter referred to as “the 2024 Tariff Regulations”), in respect of the ‘Unified Load Despatch & Communication Scheme (the ULDC Scheme) and the SLDC System, retained by the Petitioner’ in the Western Region.

2. The Petitioner has made the following prayers in the instant Petition:

“a) Approve the trued-up Transmission Tariff for 2019-24 block and transmission tariff for 2024-29 block for the assets covered under this petition, as per para 12 and 13 above.

b) Approve the reimbursement of expenditure by the beneficiaries towards petition filing fee, and expenditure on publishing of notices in newspapers in terms of Regulation 94 (1) Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations , 2024, and other expenditure (if any) in relation to the filing of petition.

c) Allow the petitioner to bill and recover Licensee fee and RLDC fees & charges, separately from the respondents in terms of Regulation 94 (3) and (4) Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations , 2024.

d) Allow the petitioner to bill and adjust impact on Interest on Loan due to change in Interest rate on account of floating rate of interest applicable during 2024-29 period, if any, from the respondents.

e) Allow the petitioner to claim O&M expenses as per norms to be notified by Hon’ble Commission at the time of truing up.

f) Allow the petitioner to file a separate petition before Hon’ble Commission for claiming the overall security expenses and consequential IOWC on that security expenses as mentioned at para 18 above.

g) Allow the petitioner to file a separate petition before Hon’ble Commission for claiming the overall insurance expenses and consequential IOWC on that insurance expenses as mentioned at para 18 above.

h) Allow the petitioner to file a separate petition before Hon’ble Commission for claiming the overall capital spares at the end of tariff block as per actual as mentioned at Para 19 above.

i) Allow the petitioner to claim expenses of CTUIL borne by POWERGRID through a separate petition on year to year/ at the end of tariff block as mentioned at para 19 above.

j) Allow the Petitioner to bill and recover GST on Transmission Charges separately from the respondents, if GST on transmission is levied at any rate in future. Further, any taxes including GST and duties including cess etc. imposed by any statutory/Govt./municipal authorities shall be allowed to be recovered from the beneficiaries.

and pass such other relief as Hon’ble Commission deems fit and appropriate under the circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice.”

Background

3. The brief facts of the case are as follows:

a) The Investment Approval (IA) and the expenditure sanction was accorded by the Central Government, Ministry of Power (MoP) vide letter dated 5.2.2001 at an estimated cost of ₹26218 lakh, including an Interest During Construction (“IDC”) of ₹4699 lakh, consisting of: (i) PGCIL’s Portion of ₹25481 lakh, including an IDC of ₹4558 lakh and (ii) SEB’s Portion of ₹737 lakh, including an IDC of ₹141 l