Tata Power asked to refund Rs 354cr to REL

The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity has directed Tata Power (TPC) to refund Rs 354 crore along with interest that Reliance Energy (REL) paid it earlier as standby charges for electricity supply in Maharashtra.

The judgement was delivered by Judical Member Justice E Padmanabhan when the matter was referred to him after a bench comprising technical member A A Khan and tribunal chairperson Justice Anil Dev Singh gave different rulings on the issue.

Earlier, in October, Khan had said that TPC must refund Rs 354 crore, but Justice Singh had calculated the amount to be paid as Rs 133 crore after ruling that TPC and REL must share the payment of standby charges to be paid to Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) in a ratio of 2:1.

The dispute over standby charges between the two companies relates to the period 1999-2000 to 2003-04. The two companies paid standby charges to MSEB for the backup arrangement in the event of power outages in their own generating stations.