The Andhra Pradesh government has rejected the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission orders ruling that Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) between APGenco and discoms are valid.
The government rejected the orders on two counts. Firstly, APERC has no jurisdiction on the issue now as the two successor States -- Telangana and Andhra Pradesh -- constituted their respective Electricity Regulatory Commissions on July 31 and August 1 and issued orders, said media advisor Parakala Prabhakar here on Tuesday.
Secondly, it did not follow the principles of natural justice by giving orders unilaterally without taking the views of the Andhra Government..
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Prabhakar said that Schedule 12 and Sec C(3) of the AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014 laid down that the “ existing APERC shall function as a joint regulatory body for a period not exceeding six months within which time separate SERCs will be formed in the successor States.” Thus APERC had ceased to be a joint regulatory body since August 1 and its orders would have no legal or administrative sanction, he reasoned.
The APERC in the erstwhile united AP in its orders late on Monday noted that approval to pending PPAs deemed to have been given and there was no need for the Commission to give explicit consent for PPAs as per the Electricity Act.
Mr. Prabhakar said while the AP government would honour all the approved PPAs and those not approved would be reviewed and fresh PPAs would be entered into. All the pending 31 PPAs were related to 5,000 MW of power generated by public sector units like Vijayawada, RTPS, Kothagudem, Ramagundam, Kakatiya thermal powers plants and the four discoms in the united AP.
Post bifurcation, two discoms are in AP and two in Telangana State. The State discoms would review and make fresh PPAs with AP or TS Genco, he said.
‘Unilateral action’Mr. Prabhakar said even if one assumed old regulator had the jurisdiction, the way it unilaterally issued orders on Monday without consulting the two States amounted to denial of natural justice.
However, sources at the APERC said as a quasi-judicial body, it had powers to issue suo motu orders as it had taken the views of AP Genco at the open hearing in December last. But they admitted that they were not aware that AP constituted its own ERC and only on Tuesday, they said, the GO was brought to their notice.
