Big Blow for Jagan Govt’s PPAs Revising

The Appellate Tribunal For Electricity (Aptel) had applied breaks to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Government which is trying to negotiate the Power Tariffs according to the PPAs signed during Chandrababu’s regime. The Appellate has directed the discoms to pay Rs 2.72/unit tariff—the rate discovered in reverse auctions—to the plant developers.

The Appellate reversed the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Commission’s October 2019 order which allowed the state to buy electricity from these solar projects only if tariffs were reduced to Rs 2.44/unit. The Aptel’s order will mean that the Power Companies which are fighting the AP Government’s decision in courts will get a positive precedent.

Crisil had noted that the state’s move could put additional stress on about 5.2 GW of wind and solar energy projects with an estimated debt exposure of over Rs 21,000 crore. Recently Union Minister, Piyush Goyal went on to say that the movie of Andhra Pradesh dented the image of India before the Foreign Investors.

YSR Congress Government claimed that the PPAs signed during Chandrababu Naidu‘s regime might have been inked with “malafide intentions” and could have “resulted in the unjustified burden on the consumers of the state”. This ruling of the Appellate will mean that they stand wrong in accusing the Previous Government.