The Andhra Pradesh High Court quashed the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission’s 6,400 MW bid, saying that all bids had to fall under the Centre’s set guidelines for renewable energy tenders.
The Andhra Pradesh government had floated the bid in December 2020 which would not come under the Electricity Act of 2003, and promised free electricity to end consumers through the state distribution companies. However, since it did not come under the act, any grievances by private companies would be difficult to recover through the legal route. The official order is awaited and yet to be uploaded on the court website.
The court directed the Andhra Pradesh government that to procure power, the bidding documents should be per the Electricity Act, 2003. The court further noted that any deviation from the bidding guidelines issued by the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy should be approved by the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Tata Power was the main petitioner in the case and Tata Power had filed the petition stating that the RfS and draft PPAs were not in line with the Electricity Act
Tata Power declined to comment when contacted by ET, saying that they were waiting for the written judgement to be out before they would make a statement.
The HC passing the operative part through an oral judgement on Thursday. The final order is awaited.
