Relief to solar firms as HC stays KERC order

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday passed an interim order staying the order passed by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) withdrawing the exemption of transmission or wheeling and banking charges granted to the solar energy companies.

Justice A S Bopanna passed the order after hearing a batch of petitions filed by Embassy Energy Private Limited and two other companies.

The petitioner companies have contended that they were exempted from the payment of wheeling and banking charges as they have not yet completed 10 year period of commercial operations as on March 31, 2018.

Now, the deadline fixed for exemption has been brought down to March 31, 2017 by the KERC. This has led to the petitioner being deprived of the exemption.