Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has provided relief to Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) concerning the payment of outstanding additional charges related to fluctuations in electricity supply.
The court has stayed the implementation of a demand notice issued by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to pay Rs 179 crore. However, the court directed the DISCOMs to pay the current charges levied for supply variations.
The DISCOMs had filed a petition in the High Court challenging the CERC’s notice. On Thursday, July 24, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice P Shyam Koshis heard the petition.
Advocate N Sridhar Reddy, representing the petitioner, argued that the regulatory norms came into effect on September 16 of last year, and it was incorrect to demand payment of arrears accumulated before the implementation of these norms.
He further contended that it was unfair for CERC to order a single state to pay Rs 170 crore out of a total outstanding amount of Rs 190 crore, which includes arrears from northern states. The advocate stated that the state was willing to pay the actual charges related to real-time fluctuations during power supply to the state.
After hearing the arguments, the division bench issued an interim order staying the implementation of the notice demanding the payment of Rs 179 crore in arrears.
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