BHUBANESWAR: The Grid Corporation of Odisha Limited (Gridco) has won its battle against Reliance Infrastructure Limited (RIL), a subsidiary of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, with the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) directing the company to pay arrears amounting to Rs 4,234 crore to the State-owned bulk power trading utility.
The State PSU had moved OERC on October 28, 2019 for recovery of the amount that included Rs 2,414.69 crore towards pending bulk supply power (BSP) bill and Rs 921.69 crore for delayed payment surcharge from RIL after revocation of its distribution licence of erstwhile NESCO, WESCO and SOUTHCO with effect from March 4, 2015. “Considering the provision under section 20 (1) (c) of Electricity Act, 2003 and the observations of Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL), we hold that the liabilities which have accrued prior to revocation of licence is to be borne by the erstwhile licencees NESCO, WESCO, SOUTHCO and in turn, their managing investor RIL,” said the October 27, 2021 order of OERC.
Responding to the counter of RIL managed distribution companies (Discoms) that the petitioner had earlier made a combined claim to the tune of Rs 2,245.83 crore, the regulatory commission said the respondents have not produced any document in support of such claim. “They have not contradicted the claim figure of Rs 42,34,08,91,661 during the course of argument. In view of this, we accept the claim made by Gridco. We also hold that besides the three RIL managed Discoms, RIL itself is squarely liable for settling the above claim of the petitioner,” the order said.
The Reliance managed distribution companies argued that a legal entity incorporated cannot be sued thorough its shareholders. The alleged claims by Gridco are barred by limitation. The other arguments tendered by RIL included that the tariff determined by the Commission was not sufficient to pay Gridco after meeting the salary and other expenses. The Commission has failed repeatedly to implement the judgments of APTEL which requires distribution loss tariff to be reset for the financial year 2006-07 to 2013-14.
The other receivables claimed by Gridco from RIL included SLDC dues of Rs 466.9 crore, securitised dues of Rs 662.32 crore, NTPC bonds dues of Rs 178.91 crore, interest on bonds Rs 16.45 crore and capital expenditure of Rs 267.63 crore.
Power fight
Rs 2,414 cr sought by Gridco towards pending bulk supply
Rs 921.69 cr for delayed payment surcharge
Rs 466.9 cr SLDC dues claimed by the power trading utility