In a major ruling affecting India’s renewable energy and transmission sector, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has settled a dispute between JSW Renew Energy Ltd, the Central Transmission Utility of India Limited (CTUIL), and Karur Transmission Ltd (KTL) over bilateral transmission charges amounting to more than Rs 2.2 crore. The dispute arose after CTUIL, acting on behalf of KTL, issued transmission invoices to JSW Renew Energy for delays in achieving the Commercial Operation Date (COD) of its renewable energy project, even though the related transmission infrastructure developed by KTL had already been declared ready.
JSW Renew Energy challenged the invoices before the Commission, arguing that the Ministry of Power guidelines protected renewable energy developers from paying transmission charges during extensions granted for delayed project commissioning. The company also argued that it was unfair to burden a developer with only 100 MW of operational capacity with the full transmission cost of a much larger 1000 MW transmission system.
KTL, however, maintained that it had completed all contractual obligations and had already achieved deemed commercial operations for its transmission system. The company stated that non-payment of transmission charges had caused serious financial stress. CTUIL supported KTL’s position and clarified that under existing transmission regulations, generation project delays do not automatically exempt developers from paying transmission charges once evacuation infrastructure becomes available.
After examining technical records and legal submissions from all parties, CERC closely reviewed the commissioning timeline of the KTL transmission assets. Although KTL claimed an earlier commissioning date, the Commission observed that several key components, including associated transformers and transmission lines, were fully integrated and operational only by November 29, 2023. Based on this assessment, the Commission officially fixed December 7, 2023, as the deemed COD for the KTL transmission system.
As a result, CERC set aside the invoices raised in December 2023 and January 2024, ruling that they were incorrectly issued for a period before the officially recognized operational date of the transmission system.
On the issue of cost sharing, the Commission rejected JSW’s request for a complete waiver of charges. However, it strongly supported the company’s argument on proportionality. CERC ruled that charging the entire cost of a 1000 MW transmission system to a single developer with only 100 MW of delayed capacity was unreasonable and inequitable. The Commission directed CTUIL to recalculate the charges proportionately. Under the revised order, JSW Renew Energy will pay transmission charges only for its 100 MW delayed capacity, while the remaining balance will be recovered through the national transmission pool mechanism. CTUIL has been instructed to issue revised invoices within one month.
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