Hail CERC order on Tata Power & Adani Power: Nishith Desai

Backing the recent CERC orders, Pratibha Jain, Partner and Head of Infra Practice at Nishith Desai Associates says the regulator has used its authority under Section 79 of the Electricity Act.   State utilities are upset with recent regulatory orders in favour of Adani Power and Tata Power that squeezed the margins of firms such as NTPC, NHPC, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and SJVN. The regulator has granted higher tariffs to the private power producers for costly coal though they insist that it would only partly compensate them.According to Jain, CERC's authority had already been upheld by the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) and the Supreme Court.