Southern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Limited & Anr. Vs Green Infra Wind Solutions Limited & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
Supreme Court held that Generation Based Incentive is intended to be disbursed over and above tariff set by State Electricity Regulatory Commission [SERC]. Accordingly, the applications filed by intervention/impleadment are allowed.
Facts- We are called upon to decide if the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) while exercising its power to determine tariff can “consider and factor in” the “Generation Based Incentive” (GBI) granted under a financial policy designed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for incentivising actual renewable energy generation by the renewable energy generating companies (GENCOs). While GENCOs contend that there is no such power, the SERC and the distribution companies (DISCOMs) insist that tariff fixation is the exclusive province of the SERCs and that this power cannot be denuded by operation of an incentive scheme formulated in exercise of executive power. On facts, the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) determined the tariff of the GENCOs by factoring in the GBI granted by the MNRE, but in appeal the APTEL took a different view and held that the SERC has no such power. The well-refined arguments of the learned counsels appearing before us maintained the same stand of either total and exclusive province of the SERC to determine tariff, or absolute nonexistence of power to “consider and take into account” GBI for fixation of tariff.
