RPower disallowed dues recovery for supply of power from 3,960 MW Sasan UMPP in Madhya Pradesh

The Supreme Court has rejected the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity’s (APTEL) order that allowed Reliance Power Limited (RPower) to recover Rs 10.5 billion from discoms procuring power from the 3,960 MW Sasan ultra mega power project (UMPP) at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh, owing to a dispute over the date of commissioning of the plant. Earlier in 2014, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) had rejected RPower’s petition seeking the recovery of dues stating that from March 31, 2013 to August 16, 2013 the company had injected infirm power and the payment for the same could not be recovered from the discoms. Later in March 2016, APTEL stated that the discoms must pay RPower the dues, quashing the CERC order. The discoms had then appealed against the APTEL order in the Supreme Court.