Petition of the CERC (Conduct of Business) Regulations of the Review of CESC Limited – EQ
Summary:
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## Case Details
* **Review Petition No.**: 13/RP/2025 (with IA No. 81/2025)
* **In**: Petition No. 241/AT/2025
* **Petitioner**: CESC Limited (Kolkata)
* **Respondents**: Purvah Green Power Pvt. Ltd. & Bhojraj Renewables Energy Pvt. Ltd.
* **Coram**: Shri Jishnu Barua (Chairperson), Shri Ramesh Babu V., Shri Harish Dudani, Shri Ravinder Singh Dhillon (Members)
* **Date of Order**: 24 September 2025
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## Background
* CESC sought review of CERC’s **09.07.2025 order** rejecting adoption of tariff (₹3.81/kWh) for **300 MW Wind-Solar Hybrid (WSH) power procurement** under Section 63 of the Electricity Act.
* Original rejection was based on **non-compliance with bidding guidelines** and concerns over **transparency and deviations**.
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## Petitioner’s Grounds for Review
1. **Deviation Approval**
* CESC obtained deviation approval from **Govt. of West Bengal** instead of the Central Government.
* Argued that at the time of bidding (Nov 2024), there was no clear directive requiring Central Govt. approval.
* Claimed **error apparent** in treating CERC’s **05.11.2024 RoP** as a binding directive.
* Later sought post-facto approval from **MNRE (28.07.2025)**.
2. **Tariff Justification**
* Submitted supporting documents (BEC Report, Conformity Certificate, ASCI Certificate) showing ₹3.81/kWh was market-aligned.
* Claimed Commission wrongly dismissed tariff analysis as speculative.
3. **Public Interest**
* Re-bidding would raise consumer costs; review necessary to avoid burden on consumers.
4. **Expungement Requests**
* Asked to remove adverse remarks in the earlier order:
* Alleged concealment of ISTS nature from GoWB.
* Same set of bidders & subsidiary winning both bids, raising transparency concerns.
* Winning bidder wrongly termed “wholly owned subsidiary.”
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## Commission’s Analysis
* **On Deviation Approval**:
* Energy Watchdog (SC, 2017) clarified “Appropriate Government” for ISTS = Central Govt.
* CESC knowingly sought approval from State Govt despite inter-State nature.
* Govt. of West Bengal approval was **“non est” (invalid)** for ISTS projects.
* **On Tariff Justification**:
* Supporting documents were considered but did not convincingly justify tariff.
* Arguments relied on assumptions; higher tariff not adequately substantiated.
* **On Public Interest**:
* Review jurisdiction cannot be invoked merely on consumer cost considerations.
* **On Expungement**:
* Refused to delete remarks except one correction:
* “Wholly owned subsidiary” remark modified to reflect only “subsidiary” (87.74% owned by CESC, 12.26% by group company).
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## Final Decision
* **Review Petition rejected**.
* **IA No. 81/2025** (impleadment of MNRE) rendered **infructuous**.
* CERC upheld its earlier stance that tariff adoption was non-compliant with guidelines.
* Advised CESC to go for **re-bidding under proper approvals**.
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