SUPREME COURT ALLOWS CONDITIONAL TRADING FOR NON SOLAR RECs

The matter of CERC’s order on new RECs pricing and the stay granted by the SC on trading, another  hearing was held in Supreme Court on 14th July 2017.

 

Main highlights of the Order:

 

• An Intervention appeal was filed  requesting  obligated entities to purchase RECs at previous prices i.e. Rs 1500/ REC (MWH) with the additional amount deposited with the CERC

 

• The Supreme Court allowed this, and directed that the differential price (Rs 500/REC) i.e. between the earlier floor price (Rs 1500/REC) and the present Floor Price(Rs 1000/REC) to be held by CERC during the pendency of the matter with Appellate Tribunal

 

• Therefore, stay on the REC Trading (only for Non Solar RECs) have been withdrawn by Supreme Court and trade is likely to start. However, we believe that it will be some time before trading can start as CERC will have to develop modalities to accept such a deposit.

 

• The stay on Solar RECs trading remains in place, and the hearing on that matter will be held  in due course

 

Today (17/July/17) the Appellate Tribunal was due to hear the above matter, but it has been postponed to a later date.

 

Implications of the SC order:

 

• Trading will resume in the case of Non-solar RECs, but will remain suspended in the case of Solar RECs. However, we believe that it will be some time before trading can start as CERC will have to develop modalities to accept such a deposit.

 

• Despite the start of trading, it is very unlikely that any meaningful demand for Non-solar RECs will materialise. Given the lack of any pressure to comply with RPOs, it is unlikely that any obligated entity will spend a higher amount while the matter is still sub-judice in the ApTel.

The SCs order can be accessed here
Our previous analysis of the order on stay of REC trading can be accessed here
 
An article, covering the order was published Business Standard. REConnect was quoted in the article suggesting that ““Trading will resume in the case of Non-solar RECs, but will remain suspended in the case of Solar RECs. However, we believe that it will be some time before trading can start as CERC will have to develop modalities to accept such a deposit”.