Petition No. 91/2004. Case: NTPC Ltd. Vs Grid Corporation of Orissa Ltd.. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission
| Case Number | Petition No. 91/2004 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Shri M.G. Ramachandran, Advocate, Ms. Swapna Seshadri, Shri Rohit Chabbra, Shri B.S. Rajput, Shri Shyam Kumar, Shri Ajay Dua, Shri Shankar Saran, Shri A.K. Bishoi, Shri Sameer Aggarwal, Shri Shailendra Singh and Shri S.K. Jain, NTPC and For Respondents: Shri R.K. Mehta, Advocate, GRIDCO |
| Judges | Pramod Deo, Chairperson, V.S. Verma and M. Deena Dayalan, Members |
| Issue | Electricity Law |
| Judgement Date | June 08, 2013 |
| Court | Central Electricity Regulatory Commission |
Order:
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Petition No. 91/2004 was filed by the petitioner NTPC Ltd. for approval of tariff of Talcher Thermal Power Station (hereinafter referred to as "the generating station") for the period from 1.4.2004 to 31.3.2009 based on the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations, 2004, (hereinafter referred to as "the 2004 Tariff Regulations"). The Commission by its order dated 23.3.2007 approved the tariff of the generating station as detailed below.
Subsequently, in Petition No. 59/2007 filed by the respondent GRIDCO, the Commission by its order dated 20.8.2007 revised the operational parameters of the generating station with effect from 1.10.2007 consequent upon the completion of major R&M works of the generating station. Accordingly, the provisions of the 2004 Tariff Regulations were amended by notification dated 27.9.2007.
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Aggrieved by order dated 23.3.2007 in Petition No. 91/2004, the petitioner filed Review Petition No. 72/2007 raising the following issues:
(a) Computation of Interest on loan;
(b) Loss on account of de-capitalisation of assets-Impact on allowable O & M expenditure for the period 2004-09;
(c) Depreciation;
(d) Non-recovery of full depreciation in tariff due to de-capitalisation of certain assets;
(e) Non-recovery of full depreciation in tariff due to disincentive for not achieving the specified target availability.
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Against the Commission's order dated 23.3.2007 in Petition No. 91/2004 the petitioner also filed Appeal No. 88/2007 before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity ('the Tribunal') raising the following issues:
(a) Treating Depreciation available as Deemed loan Repayment;
(b) Cost of Maintenance Spares;
(c) Non-consideration of Normative Transit Loss for coal received through Railway System;
(d) Admissibility of Depreciation upto 90%;
(e) Computation of Interest on loan;
(f) Loss on account of de-capitalisation of assets-its impact on allowable O & M Expenditure for the period 2004-2009;
(g) Depreciation;
(h) (i) Non recovery of full depreciation due to de-capitalisation of certain assets (ii) interest on loan in tariff due to de-capitalisation of certain assets
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While so, the Commission by its order dated 5.9.2008 disposed of the said review petition (Review Petition No. 72/2007) by allowing the rate of depreciation of 4.5% and the adjustment of cumulative depreciation and directed the same to be considered while determining the tariff of the generating station based on additional capital expenditure for 2004-09.
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Accordingly, in Petition No. 31/2008 filed by the petitioner for revision of tariff based on additional capital expenditure for 2004-07, the Commission by its order dated 3.2.2009 revised the tariff of the generating station considering the above directions in order dated 5.9.2008 and after accounting for the additional capital expenditure for the period 2004-07.
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Against the order dated 3.2.2009 in Petition No. 31/2008 revising the annual fixed charges on account of additional capital expenditure incurred during the years 2004-07, the petitioner filed Appeal No. 82/2009 before the Tribunal and the Tribunal by its judgment dated 27.7.2010 allowed the prayers of the petitioner as regards the non-inclusion of un-discharged liabilities and Interest During Construction (IDC) in the light of its earlier judgments dated 10.12.2008 in Appeal Nos. 151 & 152/2007 and 16.3.2009 in Appeal Nos. 133, 135, 136 and 148/2008 and directed implementation of the same. Similarly, the respondent also filed Appeal No. 81/2009 before the Tribunal against the said order on the issue of restoration of lost capacity/re-rating of units, non sharing of benefits of efficiency improvement, capitalization of R&M works allowed by the Commission etc and the Tribunal by its judgment dated 12.1.2011 dismissed the said appeal.
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Subsequently, the petitioner filed Review Application No. 67/2009 seeking review of the order dated 3.2.2009, on the ground that the Commission while working out interest on Working Capital (IWC) for the period 1.10.2007 to 31.3.2009, had wrongly considered the fuel prices for the months of January, February and March 2004, instead of the fuel prices for the months of July, August and September 2007. The Commission by order dated 29.9.2009 allowed the review of order dated 3.2.2009 on the question of computation of Interest on working capital (IWC) and thereafter, by order dated 11.1.2010 revised the IWC and approved the annual fixed charges of the generating station for 2004-09. Since certain arithmetical errors had occurred in the computation of IWC for the year 2007-08, in order dated 11.1.2010, the Commission by order 9.2.2010 revised the tariff of the generating station after correction of the said ministerial errors in order dated 11.1.2010.
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Thereafter, the petitioner filed Petition No. 184/2009 for revision of tariff for the period 2004-09 due to additional capital expenditure incurred for the years 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively. The Commission after considering the maintainability of the petition on the question of 'jurisdiction' determined by the tariff of the generating station by its order dated 3.9.2012 taking into consideration the directions contained in the judgment of the Tribunal dated 13.6.2007 in Appeal Nos. Appeal Nos. 139, 140 etc of 2006, 10, 11 and 23/2007 etc (NTPC-v-CERC & ors) subject to the final outcome of the Civil Appeals (C.A. Nos. 5434/2007 to 5452/2007 and 5622/2007 etc) and the judgments of the Tribunal dated 10.12.2008 and 16.3.2009 in Appeal No 151 & 152/2007 and Appeal Nos. 133, 135, 136 and 148/2008 respectively, subject to the final outcome of the Civil Appeals (C.A. Nos. 4112-4113/2009 and Civil Appeal...
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