1 Before the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory
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BEFORE THE GUJARAT ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION AT AHMEDABAD Petition No.256/2003 & 867/2006 In the matter of: Levy of Parallel Operation Charges for the Captive Power Plants running in parallel of Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation Limited’s and Distribution Companies Grid. Petitioner : Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation Limited, Vadodara. Co-Petitioners: 1. Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Ltd., Vadodara. 2. Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Ltd., Surat. 3. Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Ltd., Mehsana. 4. Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd., Rajkot. V/s. Opponents : 1. M/s.Torrent Gujarat Bio Tech, Masar. 2. M/s.Petronet LNG Ltd., Dahej. 3. M/s.GACL, Dahej Vagra. 4. M/s.GSFC, Fertilizernagar, Vadodara. 5. M/s.Gujarat Glass Pvt.Ltd., Uchhad. 6. M/s.Solaris Bio-Chemical Ltd., Karakhadi. 7. M/s.ONGC (Kawas), Hazira, Surat. 8. M/s.Videocon International Ltd., Cahvaj. 9. M/s.Nilkanth Concast Pvt.Ltd., Vadala. 10. M/s.Dipak Nitrite Ltd., Nadeari. Baroda. 11. M/s.Alembic Chemicals, Baroda. 12. M/s.Hindalco, Dahej. 13. M/s.IPCL, Dahej-Gandhar. 14. M/s.Modern Petrofiles Ltd., Bamangam. 15. M/s.Narmada Cement Co.Ltd., Jafrabad. 16. M/s.IPCL, Jawaharnagar, Vaodadara. 17. M/s.Daman Ganga Paper Ltd., Ambethi, Vapi. 18. M/s.S.A.L. Ltd. Gandhidham, Kutch. 19. M/s.Mid India Engineer, Anjar, Kutch. 20. M/s.Reliance Industries Ltd., Motikahvadi, Jamnagar. 21. M/s.Orient Obresive Ltd., Porbandar. 22. M/s.Nirma, Kalatalav, Bhavnagar. 23. M/s.L&T Ltd. Kovaya, Jafrabad, Amreli. 24. M/s.Arvind Mills Ltd., Naroda Road, Ahmedabad. 25. M/s.KRIBHCO, Hazira, Surat. 26. M/s.Reliance Industries Ltd., Hazira, Surat. 1 27. M/s.Swil Ltd., Jhagadia, Bharuch. 28. M/s.Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizer, Bharuch. 29. M/s.Saurashtra Cement Ltd., Ranavav. 30. M/s.Narmada Chematur & Petrochem Ltd., Bharuch. 31. M/s.Philps Carbon Ltd., Palej, Bharuch. 32. M/s.Arvind International, Santej, Ahmedabad. 33. M/s.Reliance Industries Ltd., Ahmedabad. 34. M/s.Shah Alloys Ltd., Santej, Kalol. 35. M/s.Essar Steel Ltd., Hazira, Surat. 36. M/s.ONGC;, Ankleshwar. 37. M/s.United Phosphorous Ltd., Jhagadia, Bharuch. 38. M/s.J.C.T.Electronics Ltd., Kandari. 39. M/s.GEDA, Kothara, Kutch. CORAM: Dr.P.K.Mishra, Chairman Dr.Man Mohan, Member(T) ORAL ORDER [1] The matter was called out on 6.5.2009. Learned Advocate Shri Premal Joshi along with S/Shri J.N.Tamhene, ACE, S.K.Trivedi and Venu Birappa were present on behalf of GETCO. S/Shri S.A.Pota, P.N. Mistry and Mrs M.M. Marathe were present on behalf of the co-petitioner no.1. Shri R.J Desai was present on behaof of co-petitioner no. 2. Ld. Advocate Anand Ganesh was present on behalf of co- petitioner no. 3. Shri J.J.Gandhi was present on behalf of the co-petitioner no.4. Ld. Advocate Bijal Chhatrapati was present on behalf of respondents no. 10, 12, 15, 20, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 32 & 32. Shri B.C.Chokshi was present on behalf of respondent no.3. S/Shri Raj Yadav and Kunal Nanavati were present on behalf of respondents no.11, 15, 35 & 37. Shri Gaurav Mathur & Shri Om Agrawal were present on behalf of respondent no.18 & 34. Shri G.B. Desai was present on behalf of respondent no. 4. Shri Nanda Rawal was present on behalf of respondent no. 6. Shri M.M.Patel was present on behalf of respondent no.9. Shri Chirag Trivedi was present on behalf of respondent no. 22. S/Shri J.R. Shah and N.V. Dolia were present on behalf of respondent no. 28. Shri A.K. Yadav was present on behalf of respondent no.8. Shri B.J. Pandya was present on behalf of respondent no. 38. Shri R.C. Thakur was present on behalf of respondent no. 14. 2 Shri R.P. Singh was present on behalf of respondent no. 25. S/Shri A Verma, Sanjay Agarwall and Arvind Kumar were present on behalf of respondent no. 35 at the time of hearing. [2] Learned Advocate Shri Premal Joshi, on behalf of the petitioners, invited our attention to the common oral order dated 28.4.2009 passed by the Hon’ble Mr Justice S.K. Buch in Misc. Civil Application for Review No. 2834/2008, Spl. C.A. No. 14743/2004 with Misc. C.A. No. 2843/2008, Spl. C.A. No. 23308/2006 with Misc. C.A. No. 2846/2008, Spl. C.A. No. 23312/2006 with Misc. C.A. No. 2836/2008, Spl. C.A. No. 14742/2004 with Misc. C.A. No. 2967/2008, Spl. C.A. No. 3429/2007 with Misc. C.A. No. 2845/2008, Spl. C.A. No. 23310/2006 with Misc. C.A. No. 2844/2008 and in Spl. C.A. No. 26376 of 2006. He read the judgement and invited our attention to para 5, 6 & 7 of the judgement which is relevant to the issue before the Commission. Para 5, 6 & 7 of the judgement are reproduced below. “5. The petitioners who agree to the above settlement terms may sign the settlement agreement and place the same before the GERC who will pass orders in terms of the settlement in respect of such parties while offering the same terms to all other similarly situated parties. GERC is directed to issue notice to all the CPPs informing them about the settlement proposal above referred and call upon each of them to indicate, within a period of eight weeks, if they wish to accept the proposal, for the term of 10 years or not, without prejudice to rights and contentions of CPPs and power utilities. In the event any party fails to indicate whether they are willing to accept the proposal or not within 8 weeks they would have deemed to have accepted the proposal and shall then have to exercise option of POC or Demand Charges based on meter with 3 minutes integration. 6. In respect of the parties who positively do not refuse to accept the proposal [i.e. those who accept and those who do not respond within 8 3 weeks], GERC shall pass orders in respect of such parties also in terms of the proposal/settlement. 7. The proceedings before the GERC shall then continue only with respect to the parties who positively refuse to accept the proposal . However, it is clarified that the parties who have settled the dispute would also be entitled to participate in the hearing before GERC. Any decision which is ultimately arrived at in the said petition No. 256 of 2003 and Petition No. 867 of 2006 shall not bind the CPPs and the power utilities, in so far as the same is covered by the settlement agreement, for term of the settlement, which is said to be of 10 years which will be applicable to such CPPs and Power Utilities”. 2.1 Relying upon the above judgement of the Hon’ble High Court of Gujarat, the Ld. Advocate, Shri Premal Joshi submitted that notices are to be issued to all the CPP owners and 8 weeks’ time is to be granted, but there is no necessity to hear the CPP owners who have already made settlement agreement in line with the proposal made in the said order of the Hon’ble High Court with the petitioner. [3] Ld. Advocate, Shri Raj Yadav for Nanavati Associates submitted that the CPP owners, who have already made settlement agreement, are also at liberty to make submission before the Commission and perhaps, they may not agree with the settlement agreement. Therefore, he submitted that the Commission should also give opportunity of being heard to the CPP owners who have already executed settlement agreement. [4] Ld. Advocate, Shri Ajay Mehta, on behalf of ONGC submitted that as per his knowledge, there are 51 CPPs and only a minority CPP owners has agreed for settlement and therefore, it is intra-party litigation and therefore, settlement agreement executed by them are not binding to all CPP owners. Moreover, Hon’ble Single Judge had passed the order and the said order is challengeable by filing Letters Patent Appeal. Therefore, the order passed by the Hon’ble High 4 Court is not final. In reply, Ld. Advocate, Shri Premal Joshi submitted that the order passed by the Hon’ble High Court is not challengeable in view of settlement arrived at by the CPP owners. However, he would submit a list of all 51 CPP owners so that the Commission may issue notices to them. [5] Ld. Advocate Shri Bijal Chhatrapati submitted that the Commission has to act as per the directions given by the Hon’ble High Court, but the Commission should ask for option to CPP owners as to whether settlement agreement executed by some CPP owners are acceptable to them or not. [6] Shri A.K. Yadav, Sr Manager (Power Plant) on behalf of Videocon International Ltd. (VIL) submitted that they are operating their CPP in parallel with the Grid for which permission from GEB has been obtained since June 2006. DGVCL has imposed Parallel Operation Charges to VIL since June 2006 and VIL is regularly paying Rs. 4.28 lacs towards POC every month. However, for some other similarly placed CPPs, the PoC in not applicable in accordance with the prevailing orders / rules and regulations of GERC. He also submitted that the Tariff Policy – Commercial Circular No. 767 - does not indicate POC as a tariff and nowhere mentioned about the POC. Even the latest Electricity Act, 2003 also does not mention about the POC.