Udaipur : Recently, an order was issued to put the burden of evacuation facility charge imposed by Coal India on Adani Power Company on the public, while now after the decision in the tribunal on a petition of Shri Cement Company, Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has ordered to change the basis of recovery of about 5 thousand crores. The special thing is that the order of the High Court was also ignored in this. If the order is followed, the corporation will recover the amount from the consumers, which has already been paid.
In the year 2021-22, the power corporations had kept a base fuel surcharge of three months instead of the fuel surcharge for the whole year, which is being recovered at the rate of 7 paise per unit for the last two years. Meanwhile, the High Court had ordered the waiver of interest. The Rajasthan High Court, while deciding on the petitions filed against the special fuel surcharge, had issued an order on 9 November 2023. Meanwhile, Shri Cement Limited Beawar had filed a petition in the Delhi Tribunal objecting to the fuel surcharge. Now the decision on this was in favor of the company. Therefore, the RERC ordered the recovery of the fuel surcharge of two years ago, while in the event of waiving the interest, the principal amount has been recovered till now. In such a situation, now the amount is not recoverable in this name, rather the excess amount recovered should be returned.
All three Discoms of Rajasthan had filed a petition before the RERC on the basis of the decision of Aptel New Delhi dated 12 March 2024. In this, the petitions filed against the order of the Commission dated 1 September 2022 did not refer to the decision of the Rajasthan High Court dated 9 November 2023, although the copy of the court’s decision was also received by the corporation and the commission. The Commission also did not refer to the decision in the order passed now on the same subject. This is a big mistake, which the Regulatory Commission should reconsider before implementing the order. -Y.K. Bolia, former SE and Energy Advisor According to the order, out of the total recoverable amount of Rs 5337.04 crore, Rs 2709.36 crore (Rs 2288.40 crore principal and Rs 420.96 crore interest) was recovered from the year 2019 in 36 monthly installments; only the remaining amount of Rs 2627.68 crore remained recoverable, then from October 2022, recovery of Rs 7438.58 crore started in 60 monthly installments, out of that, in the 22 months till July 2024, Rs 2727.48 crore out of Rs 7438.58 crore will be recovered
