Supreme Court orders NTPC not to cut power supply to BSES till March 26

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court averted impending blackouts in the capital by ordering power major NTPCBSE 1.68 % not to cut supplies to the Anil Ambani group's distribution arms, which have defaulted on payments saying low tariffs had impoverished them. 
In a case that could shape the future of regulation and reform in power distribution and private sector's involvement in the fund-starved sector, a bench comprising Justices SS Nijjar and AK Sikri asked the state-run power major to keep electricity flowing until March 27, when the case will come up for hearing.
It also asked discoms to pay Rs 50 crore in two weeks as a part payment of dues. The discoms BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna owe nearly Rs 700 crore to NTPC. 
The discoms are at war with NTPC that wanted to penalise them by snapping supplies next week. They have also crossed swords with Delhi's Kejriwal government, which has asked the regulator to terminate their licences if they fail to supply electricity.
The court backed the consumers, who would have been the first casualty in the high-profile standoff. Justice Nijjar had stern words for both NTPC and BSES. "The only one suffering here is the consumer. No one bothers about him. You are after all a business house, doing business," he said
The bench issued notices to all parties in the case, including other suppliers such as NHPCBSE 0.82 %, Damodar Valley Corp, Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, PowerGrid, transmission firms, Delhi's regulator, the Union power ministry and also Delhi's chief secretary.
They have been asked to respond to the discoms' petitions filed by lawyer Ramesh Pukhrambam, seeking a stay on all recoveries from them by state-owned power suppliers till the issue of overdues from consumers was decided.
Delhi's regulator is feeling the heat from both sides. The discoms say the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) is ignoring its statutory duty and toeing the line of the Kejriwal government.
But Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party had campaigned that the previous regime colluded with the discoms, rejected the findings of a previous head of DERC who wanted tariff cuts, and brought in the current head of DERC to give favourable tariff orders for discoms. Discoms allege DERC failed to grant tariffs that reflect rising cost of power, which accounts for 80% of costs. The counsel for BSES Mukul Rohatgi said that the dues owed to the discoms were about Rs 25,000 crore, far more than the Rs 15,000 ccrore admitted by the regulator. DERC lawyer Meet Malhotra contested this and said a CAG audit was required to establish this. Malhotra told ET that the regulator had sought a CAG audit even before the new government took over in Delhi.
Discoms oppose the CAG audit. On Friday, the discoms including the distribution arm of Tata PowerBSE -0.33 % approached a division bench of the High Court challenging the Delhi government decision to order a CAG audit. They had earlier failed to get a stay order against the audit from the court.
The renewed plea will be heard on Feb 14. BSES welcomed the court's intervention and said the discoms look forward to the resolution of the issue of past under-recoveries of nearly Rs 20,000 crore.

source - Economicstimes.