ORDER

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

1. The Interlocutory Application (in short “IA”) No. 577 of 2023 is filed by Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Limited (in short “Appellant” or “NUPPL”) in Appeal No. 332 of 2023 seeking interim relief against the Order dated

14.02.2023 (hereinafter referred as “Impugned Order”) passed by the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (in short “UPERC” or “State Commission”) in Petition No. 1850 of 2022 filed by Ghatampur Transmission Limited (in short “GTL”), being the 2 nd Respondent, seeking declaration of Deemed Commissioning and payment of Transmission Charges by the Long- Term Transmission Customers (in short “LTTCs”) i.e. the Appellant and the four Distribution Licensees in the State of Uttar Pradesh (in short “UP”).

2. The Appellant is aggrieved by the decision of the State Commission in imposing of 100% transmission charges of element 2 & 3 of transmission system implemented by GTL and thus seeking stay of the said Impugned Order to the extent of imposition of transmission charges and consequential action taken by GTL.

3. The factual matrix of the case is noted in brief, the Appellant is a joint venture Company of NLC India Limited (in short “NLCIL”) and Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (in short "UPRUVNL”) established to set up 3×660 MW coal based Super Critical Thermal Power Plant at Ghatampur in Kanpur District in UP.

4. On 31.12.2010, NUPPL entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) with the 3 rd Respondent i.e. Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (in short “UPPCL”), for sale of power from the power plant, UPPCL, a Govt. Company under the control of UP Govt. and vested with the function of distribution and supply of electricity for and on behalf of the Distribution companies in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

5. As per the PPA, 75% of the power capacity from the power plant is allocated to the State of Uttar Pradesh and balance 25% of the power has been allocated to State of Assam by the Ministry of Power in the absence of a firm PPA.

6. For the purpose of evacuating power from the generating station of NUPPL, the REC Transmission Projects Company Limited (in short

“RECTPCL”) established a Special Purpose Vehicle (in short “SPV”) being the Ghatampur Transmission Limited (GTL) for the purpose of commissioning the transmission system through Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (in short

“TBCB”) process with the following scope of work: Element 1: 400 KV Ghatampur TPS- Kanpur (PG) D/C Line Element 2: a) 765 KV Ghatampur TPS-Agra (UP) S/C line (including 189 MVAR Line Reactor at Agra end), b) 765 KV Agra (UP)- Gr. Noida (WUPPTCL) S/C line

(including 240 MVAR Line Reactor at Agra end) c) 765 KV Feeder Bay at following substation locations (i) Greater Noida (1 No.) (ii) Agra (2 Nos.) Element 3: a) 765 KV Ghatampur TPS-Hapur (WUPPTCL S/C Line (including 330 MVAR Line Reactor at Hapur end) b) 765 KV Feeder Bay at Hapur (1 No.)

7. On 06.04.2018, GTL entered into a Transmission Service Agreement (in short “TSA”) with the Appellant and the four Distribution companies of UP, being Respondent No 4 to 8 for the implementation of the aforesaid evacuation system.

8. The State Commission in the Impugned Order approved the deemed Commercial Operation Date (in short “COD”) for the said Element 2 and Element 3 as 26.03.2021 and 28.01.2022 respectively, additionally, directed that the liability towards payment of transmission charges for Element 2(a) i.e. 765 KV Agra-Greater Noida S/C line (including 240 MVAR line reactor at Agra end) shall be borne by the LTTCs in the ratio of their share of Allocated Project Capacity as per the TSA, reasoning that 2 (a) is operationalized and put to use.

9. However, in respect of Element 2 (b) i.e. 765 KV Ghatampur TPS- Agra S/C line (including 189 MVAR line reactor at Agra end) and Element 3 (a) i.e. 765 KV G