The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has returned the Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guarantee (CPPA-G)’s petition for tariff modification, submitted on behalf of Star Hydro Power Limited (SHPL), declaring it legally untenable. SHPL, which operates the 147 MW Patrind Hydro Power Plant in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K), had sought a revision of the tariff to exclude Principal Debt Damages as awarded by the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA).
NEPRA had initially allowed CPPA-G to procure power from the Patrind project in 2008, with a levelized tariff set in 2009 and adjusted again in 2012 and 2020. However, SHPL’s latest petition, submitted in July 2022, requested a further tariff adjustment to exclude the debt damages included in the LCIA award.
The matter was complicated by ongoing legal disputes, as the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) challenged the LCIA award, arguing that the damages determined by the arbitrator did not align with NEPRA’s verified principal debt. The Lahore High Court also partly upheld the LCIA award but excluded $16.452 million related to Principal Debt Damages and delayed payment interest.
In light of these developments, NEPRA concluded that no enforceable award concerning Principal Debt Damages currently exists. As a result, the petition was deemed non-maintainable until a final legal resolution is reached in higher courts.
