Petition No. 1135 of 2016

BEFORE

THE UTTAR PRADESH ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION

LUCKNOW

Date of Order: 02.01.2017

PRESENT:

1.  Hon’ble Sri Desh Deepak Verma, Chairman

2.  Hon’ble Sri S.K. Agarwal, Member

IN THE MATTER OF: Pending payment of bills against supply of bagasse based power from January 2016 to April 2016.

M/s Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd. ,

Dwarikesh Nagar, Vill; Bundki

P.O. Medhapur Sultan, Tehsil: Nagina

District - Bijnor

------Petitioner

1. U.P. Power Corporation Ltd.,

(through its Managing Director )

Shakti Bhawan, 14 Ashok Marg,

Lucknow.

2. The Managing Director,

Pachimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd.,

Victoria Park, Meerut.

3. The Managing Director,

Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd.,

4, Gokhle Marg, Lucknow

------Respondent

Following were presents:

1.  Shri V.P. Srivastava, CE, UPPCL

2.  Shri Rajeev Srivastava, Advocate

3.  Shri Deep Singh, Officer Legal, M/s Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd.

4.  Shri D.D. Chopra, Advocate, M/s Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd.

ORDER

(Date of Hearing 07.12.2016)

1.  The petitioner, M/s Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd. is a bagasse based co-generator having two Units in Bijnor District and one Unit in Bareilly District and has PPA with UPPCL for all aforesaid Units.

2.  The instant petition is filed by the petitioner to seek payment of its bills against supply of power for the period from January 2016 to April 2016 and payment of late payment surcharge for the season 2014-15 and 2015-16. The total amount of outstanding bills against supplied power stands around Rs. 32 crore and late payment surcharge stands around RS. 6.8 crore.

3.  The petitioner submitted UPPCL neither made aforementioned payments nor assigned any reason for non-payment as stipulated under UPERC CRE Regulations.

4.  The petitioner submitted that it has approached all concerned authorities seeking their intervention in the matter but to no avail.

5.  The petitioner submitted that it is facing financial hardship on account of non-receipt of payments since it has to clear all its dues towards cane farmers otherwise it may face penal action. In this context, the petitioner submitted copy of letter written by District Magistrate Bijnor addressed to Principal Secretary Power stating that petitioner attributed non-payment of dues of cane farmers to non-payment of bills by UPPCL. DM Bijnor requested for early payment of petitioner’s bills so that payment due to cane farmers could be made and any untoward incidents is avoided. Further, petitioner stated that dues of other suppliers and employees have also to be cleared.

6.  CE PPA UPPCL who was present on behalf of UPPCL submitted that till June 2015 payment to bagasse based co-generator was done on first come first serve basis. However, later it was realized that despite this many co-generators are not clearing dues of cane farmers. Thus, since June 2015 payment to co-generators are released on the basis of recommendation of Cane Commissioner, who recommends it on the basis of status of dues of cane farmers cleared by sugar mills/co-gens.

7.  The Commission enquired UPPCL to produce documents in support of their above submission. UPPCL sought time for making submission since subject matter pertains to Finance wing of UPPCL.

8.  To ascertain actual status of payment, the Commission directed UPPCL to immediately submit supporting documents as the matter is to be disposed off within timeframe stipulated by Hon’ble High Court.

9.  However, even after 3 weeks since hearing held on 07.12.2016 no submission is made by UPPCL. In the absence of any submission from UPPCL the Commission is constrained to take final view in the matter on merit.

10. The Commission finds that the terms of PPA as approved by the Commission has to be honored by both the parties and any deviation in PPA must be got approved from the Commission before its implementation. The PPA once approved cannot be deviated under any extraneous consideration. There is no provision in the PPA of making payment as per Cane Commissioner’s recommendation. It seems that UPPCL has brought this point, which is not even substantiated through any document, to only delay the payment. Thus, the Commission finds the argument of UPPCL that payments to co-gens are released on the advice of Cane Commissioner untenable.

11. The Commission directs UPPCL to amicably settle the bills against supply of bagasse based power from January 2016 to April 2016 with the petitioner as per the provisions of the PPA. For failure to do so, appropriate action shall be initiated against them under the provisions of Electricity Act, 2003.

(S.K. Agarwal) (Desh Deepak Verma)

Member Chairman

Place: Lucknow

Dated: 02.01.2017

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