It was a moment of joy and glory when Tata Power Company (TPC) was given a green flag by the Supreme Court (SC) to supply power to consumers having an average consumption of less than 1000 KVA in Mumbai and its suburbs. TPC now would be able to compete with its rival Reliance Energy.

Earlier Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) and Appellate Tribunal had restrained Tata Group Company from affecting the supply of power to consumers, ranging from individual houses to large ones like railways.

But SC’s bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhan and Altamas Kabir cancelled the earlier orders of MERC and the Appellate Tribunal when the TPC challenged their decision before the court.

"...we have no hesitation in holding that the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (ATE) erred in coming to a finding that under its licences Tata Power was entitled to supply energy only in bulk and not for general purposes and in retail to all consumers, irrespective of their demand....," the bench said.

In the verdict for the bench, Justice Kabir wrote,” We quash the orders passed both by MERC and ATE and allow all these three appeals upon holding that under the terms and conditions of the licenses held by it, TPC is entitled to effect supply of electrical energy in retail directly to consumers, whose maximum demand is less than 1000 KVA... within its area of supply as stipulated in its licenses...,"

It further said that MERC had overstepped its jurisdiction by issuing orders which had not been prayed for by BSES (now REL).