SC dismisses Karnataka discoms' plea over Adani Power invoices

Synopsis

A bench led by Justice PS Narasimha refused to interfere with the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's (Aptel) order that also refused to stay the invoices and upheld the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) direction to the discoms to pay the entire amount claimed by Adani Power in 45 days. The top court asked the appellate tribunal to pronounce its final order in the matter within three months.

The CERC in 2023 held Karnataka discoms liable to pay the carrying cost on the differential amounts

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by a batch of Karnataka electricity distribution companies to stay what they termed "wrongful" invoices of Rs 1,005 crore that Adani Power uploaded on a government portal that tracks power purchase transactions and monitors payment arrears.

A bench led by Justice PS Narasimha refused to interfere with the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's (Aptel) order that also refused to stay the invoices and upheld the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) direction to the discoms to pay the entire amount claimed by Adani Power in 45 days. The top court asked the appellate tribunal to pronounce its final order in the matter within three months.

The CERC in 2023 held Karnataka discoms liable to pay the carrying cost on the differential amounts - the financing cost on the amount due from the discoms - along with late payment surcharge (LPS). The payment had to be made in six instalments, failing which the power producer would be entitled to LPS. Adani Power later moved the commission, accusing the discoms of noncompliance.

In their appeal, the Karnataka discoms, led by Power Company of Karnataka, claimed that there were no dues to be paid and argued that Aptel erroneously refused to stay the CERC's "perverse" order without any consideration of merits.

Any curtailment or regulation of power supply even from third parties, for nonpayment of untenable dues, causes grave prejudice, irreparable harm and serious hardship to the discoms and their consumers, the discoms claimed. Their petition said they were left with no choice but to pay, under protest, the entire amount to avoid any adverse impact of interruption in power supply to their consumers. Because of this expense, Karnataka discoms will "struggle to pay other legitimate expenses unless the same is reversed", they said.