Power distribution companies (discoms), UHBVN and DHBVN incurred avoidable expenditure of Rs 127.23 crore on purchase of short term non-solar renewable power when the electricity was in surplus, however, it had the option of purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates instead.

The wasteful expenditure has been red-flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report for year ending March 31, 2017.

CAG report says that the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) issued Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) Regulations, 2010, under Section 181 of the Electricity Act, 2003, for distribution licensees to meet RPO by purchase of Renewable Energy and/or Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).

Further, the Union Ministry of Power in May 2012 issued guidelines under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003, for short term procurement of power through a tariff based competitive bidding process.

The HERC fixed year-wise targets for RPO in its tariff orders. The shortfall of previous years was to be carried forward to the succeeding year. Cumulative shortfall of the discoms up to June 2015 was 2,391.4018 million units (MUs).

It was also noted that the HPPC had not invited tenders for short-term procurement of power from the non-solar renewable power suppliers/producers as mandated in the MoP guidelines nor any prior approval was sought from the HERC for deviating from the laid down MoP guidelines.