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The Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission issued an order on September 25, 2024, regarding a petition filed by Bharath Wind Farm Limited against the Southern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh (APSPDCL). The petitioner sought the refund of grid support charges amounting to ₹120 lakh, paid between April 2022 and March 2024, along with interest.
The issue revolved around grid support charges imposed on non-captive co-generation plants like Bharath Wind Farm. This followed a ruling by the Commission that required even non-captive units to pay these charges. However, another company, Rain CII Carbon (Vizag) Ltd., challenged the imposition of such charges, and the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) ruled in its favor, stating that non-captive plants should not be liable for grid support charges.
Based on this ruling, Bharath Wind Farm Limited argued that they were in a similar situation as Rain CII Carbon and requested a refund of the charges. APSPDCL did not dispute this claim. The Commission accepted the petition and directed APSPDCL to refund the collected charges within four weeks. However, the petitioner’s request for interest on the refund was denied, as the charges had been collected in good faith based on a previous tariff order, which was only later overturned by APTEL. The Commission noted that imposing interest would negatively impact the public, as APSPDCL is a public utility.
The case was concluded with the direction for a refund, but without any additional interest.
