BHUBANESWAR: Ruling BJD legislator from Khandapara Soumya Ranjan Patnaik has urged the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) to reject the annual revenue requirement (ARR) application of Gridco as there are no required regulations under the Electricity Act 2003 for determination of bulk supply price.
Filing his objection to Gridco’s application for determination of bulk supply price (BSP) and annual revenue requirement (ARR) for 2023-24, Patnaik said OERC has the power to determine bulk price for the purpose of sale of power to Tata Power-owned four distribution companies. He said bulk price is completely different from bulk supply price.
“It is very much wrong to contend in the part of OERC that the BP could not be determined in the absence of an ARR filing due to the reason that other SERCs of India are determining BP without seeking any ARR filing from their power traders like GRIDCO,” he said.
Pointing to the Supreme Court order all state regulatory commissions to frame regulations under section 181 of the Act on the terms and conditions for determination of tariff, Patnaik submitted that OERC cannot escape from its responsibility to follow the guiding principles in the proceeding to determining tariff after framing necessary regulations.
There is no space in the provisions of the Act to frame required regulations specifying the terms and conditions for determination of tariff like BSP for the power trader but on the other hand, trading margin can be allowed to the power trader for trading of electricity inside the state, he said.
“OERC will honour the judgment of apex court because our submission on the same cause of action has been overruled by OERC in the past, failing which OERC shall be subject to contempt of court,” Patnaik said.“I urge upon commission to set aside the ARR proposal of Gridco and determine the bulk price,” he added.