The Tribunal erred while holding that 2x110 kV lines are part of the distribution system - matter was remanded back; SC.

Supreme Court of India

Justice L. Nageswara Rao & Deepak Gupta

The SC on April 03, 2020 {SAI WARDHA POWER GENERATION LIMITED. v. THE TATA POWER COMPANY LIMITED DISTRIBUTION & ORS.} held that the CEA Regulations 2010, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (Transmission Open Access) Regulations, 2016 and the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (Distribution Open Access) Regulations, 2016 provide for demarcation between the transmission and distribution boundaries on the basis of voltage. It was held that the Tribunal erred in ignoring the said Regulations while holding that 2x110 kV lines are part of the distribution system. 

It was held that it is essential that the application filed by TPC-T for amendment of its transmission licence is decided first. It was held that if the application filed for amendment by TPC-T is allowed and reaches finality, the 2x110 kV lines will not form part of the transmission network. On the other hand, it was held that if the application of TPC-T for amendment of its licence is rejected, TPC-D cannot have a case for seeking inclusion of 2x110 kV lines in its distribution system for imposing wheeling charges on HPCL.

It was held that the Tribunal was wrong in not taking note of the application filed by TPC-T for amendment of its transmission licence in which the 2x110 kV lines were included in the transmission network. It was held that till the transmission licence of TPC-T is not modified, the 2x110 kV lines form part of the transmission network of TPC-T. It was further held by the SC that the Tribunal could not have held that 2x110 kV lines should be included in the distribution system of TPC-D. 

It was held by the SC that the judgment of the Tribunal is required to be set aside and that the matter should be remanded back for fresh consideration.

The question that arises for consideration before the SC in these Appeals was whether Tata Power Company LimitedDistribution (in short, ‘TPC-D’) is entitled to levy wheeling charges for the power supplied to Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (in short, ‘HPCL’). The matter was remanded back by the SC in view of aforesaid.