Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) has challenged the dismissal of the petition it filed at Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) seeking a reduction in traffic for the solar projects in the state.
GUVNL has challenged this dismissal last week.
The dismissal follows the petition filed by GUVNL, the state power purchaser, in May seeking to lower the tariff for solar power by 28 percent, citing the excessive profits earned by plant owners. However, GERC dismissed the petition in August, citing GUVNL cannot alter the terms of the contract retrospectively.
GUVNL signed 88 contracts for a total of 971.5 megawatts of solar capacity with developers, including Moser Baer India Ltd. (MBI), Adani Enterprises Ltd. (ADE), Tata Power Co. (TPWR)and Welspun Energy, since  2010.
In the original petition, GUVNL asked for a downward revision of tariff from INR 12.54/kWh to INR 9/kWh claiming that actual project costs incurred by developers were significantly lower than initially assumed while determining the tariff.
Upon hearing from respondents, GERC deemed the petition ‘not maintained’ and said it is not filed within a period of 60 days.
The GERC also mentioned that the information provided by GUVNL had only 10 companies that have benefited from the lower costs of project development or have not met the 70:30 debt equity criteria. The information provided is largely one sided and no consideration has been given to the views of the developers. Therefore, the case against the developers was considered incomplete.
Latest reports, however, suggest that GUVNL is gearing up to challenge the dismissal.