6 months ago
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The State authorities besides has the power, similar the Central government, to invoke exigency clause nether the Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to mandate each the powerfulness generating companies wrong the State to proviso powerfulness exclusively to the State grid successful ‘extraordinary circumstances’ similar acute energy shortage, said the High Court of Karnataka.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Anu Sivaraman and Justice Rajesh Rai.K delivered the verdict portion allowing the appeals, filed by the State Load Dispatch Centre and the State government, against the March 11, 2024 verdict of a azygous Judge.
The azygous Judge had quashed the State government’s October 16, 2024 bid asking each the powerfulness generators successful Karnataka to run and support the acrophobic generating stations to maximum exportable capableness and proviso each the energy generated to the State grid taxable to definite conditions.
Single judge’s view
While allowing the petitions filed by NLS Sugars Ltd., Chamundeshwari Sugars Ltd., and Altilium Energie Private limited, the azygous Judge had said that lone the Central authorities is the “appropriate government” nether Section 11 of the Act for issuing absorption nether ‘extraordinary circumstances” to adjacent those vigor generating companies engaged successful inter-state energy transmission.
The State government, invoking Section 11 of the Act, had issued connected October 16, 2023 a notification erstwhile Karnataka was reeling from a terrible powerfulness situation triggered by a failed monsoon and depleted hydel reservoirs, resulting successful a deficient powerfulness proviso of astir 3,000 to 3,500 MW. The State had directed each powerfulness generators, including captive and co-generation plants, to run astatine maximum capableness and proviso their full powerfulness to the State grid astatine a provisional tariff of ₹4.86 per unit.
Reserved
While reversing azygous Judge’s verdict, the Bench said: “In our view, the interior coherence of Section 11 of the Act is simply a bulwark mentation successful circumstances erstwhile the embedded generators run wrong a State, though trades/sells powerfulness inter-state, the State Government is the due authorities susceptible of some issuing directions and ensuring compensation done the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.”
Also, the Bench said that “ideally bonzer circumstances, successful discourse of Section 11 of the Act are archetypically determination and confer jurisdiction connected the State authorities implicit generators physically located wrong the State during authorities circumstantial crises.”
On the quality of powerfulness procreation by the petitioner-sugar industries, the Bench said that though the regulatory model permits captive generators and co-generation plants, similar the ones operated by the petitioners, to merchantability surplus powerfulness done myriad mechanisms, however, this flexibility does not change their cardinal quality arsenic embedded State generators chiefly service captive load.
Mere assistance of No Objection Certificates (NOC) from the SLDC for scheduling powerfulness done unfastened entree and registered connected powerfulness exchanges to merchantability surplus powerfulness does not alteration captive generators similar the petitioners into inter-State generating institution nether a composite scheme, the Bench said.
