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Powerica Limited filed a petition with the Central Electricity Authority concerning a dispute over transmission charges related to its 50.6 MW wind power project in Dwarka, Gujarat. The issue arose because the company was billed ₹2.10 crore for transmission usage even though the project was not fully commissioned and ready. Powerica argued that the charges were unfair since the delay in commissioning was due to events beyond its control, including COVID-19 lockdowns and delays in government permissions.
The wind project was part of a larger 1200 MW initiative and was awarded to Powerica by SECI in June 2019. To evacuate the power, several agreements were signed with the transmission service providers, including Jam Khambaliya Transco Limited and Power Grid Corporation. These agreements defined the timelines and responsibilities for establishing the infrastructure.
Due to the pandemic and administrative delays, the scheduled commercial operation date of the wind project was extended by SECI to 5th September 2022. Despite this, JKTL declared part of the transmission system as commercially operational from 12th April 2022 and raised invoices accordingly, claiming that their infrastructure was ready to be used.
Powerica contested this declaration, arguing that some essential transmission components were not yet complete, and the declared readiness was premature. The company pointed out that one of the key lines was still under construction and was later shut down without notice between 17th May and 31st May 2022. Due to this outage, Powerica claims it suffered a generation loss of approximately ₹1.48 crore, calculated at the tariff rate of ₹2.82 per unit.
In response, the transmission companies argued that they had completed the parts relevant to Powerica’s connection and were entitled to compensation. They also claimed that any delays on Powerica’s side justified the billing under the existing regulations and agreements.
As of June 2022, Powerica was operational for only 24.3 MW of the total 50.6 MW, and SECI officially confirmed the commissioning of this capacity. Yet, the transmission company billed Powerica as if the entire 1500 MW infrastructure was being used, which Powerica argued was excessive and unrelated to its actual usage.
In the hearings that followed, the regulatory commission admitted the petition and granted temporary relief to Powerica by ordering that no coercive actions should be taken against them, such as encashment of bank guarantees. The commission also asked the relevant parties to submit clarifications, including the actual readiness date of the infrastructure and whether the charges could be proportionately applied.
As of the order date, the total disputed billing amount stands at ₹10.28 crore, and the commission has kept the interim protection in place until the final resolution. Powerica continues to argue that no charges should be levied before the operationalization date of 7th May 2022 and seeks relief from the disputed bills.
