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HYDERABAD, April 19

A DIVISION Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court has set aside the order of the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) permitting the Transmission Corporation of AP (APTransco) to collect wheeling charges from private power producers at the rate of 50 paise per Kwh in cash as network and balancing charges and 28.4 per cent of the wheeled energy in kind as system losses.

The Bench, comprising Mr Justice B.S.A. Swamy and Mr Justice Yeti Rajulu, also directed APTransco to return the bank guarantees submitted by the power producers with regard to the wheeling charges. The court upheld the wheeling agreements earlier entered into by the private power producers with APTransco.

As per the earlier agreements, APTransco was to impose a wheeling charge of Re 1 per unit that included compensation for transmission and distribution losses of 19.5 per cent.

However, when the matter was placed before APERC, the commission allowed collection of wheeling charges both in cash and kind. As a result, the private producers had to pay higher wheeling charges.

. The APERC had issued the order on March 24, 2002 to be implemented in fiscal 2002-03. In view of the additional burden to be borne, the private producers approached the court.

The High Court, in its 168-page judgment, declared that the APERC had no jurisdiction to deliver such orders. The verdict provides a major relief to 50-odd mini-hydel and non-conventional energy producers in the State apart from companies like RCL.

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