MUMBAI: The Appellate Tribunal of Electricity has clarified that there cannot be any restriction on sourcing power from multiple sources, providing relief to industrial consumers that operate captive power plants and supply to others as well as those that source power from multiple power producers.
Green Energy Association, a Maharashtra-based association of solar power generators, had approached the tribunal after Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) directed in May last year that consumers could seek power under open access only from a single source.
The association had approached MERC seeking action against the conduct of state utility, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company , which did not process open access application of the members of the association for more than 400 days.
According to the association, it continued to inject energy in the grid without any revenue and had to incur huge losses due to the delay in issuance of credit reports and open access permissions by the state utility.
The state utility, however, argued before the commission that there was no policy for solar power in Maharashtra and that there were operational and billing difficulties in case consumers procured power from multiple sources. The commission then directed the state utility to process applications seeking open access from a single source.
Hence, the association approached the appellate tribunal and sought relief, arguing that neither the Electricity Act, nor the erstwhile regulations of the commission on open access provide for such restriction. Under the law, “open access” means non-discriminatory provision for the use of transmission lines of distribution system or associated facilities with such lines or system by any licensee or consumer or a person engaged in generation of power in accordance with the law.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the appellate tribunal, comprising Justice Surendra Kumar and Rakesh Nath, a technical member, held in its order of April 22 that there is no restriction on seeking power from multiple sources under the Electricity Act and also 2005 regulations of MERC.
“This order will give relief to all power generators in Maharashtra who have not realised revenue for energy injected on account of denial of open access prior to new regulations on the grounds of such restriction of sourcing power only from a single source,” said Dipali Sarvaiya Sheth, founder of law firm Eternity Legal.
