Jaipur: The energy department has withdrawn the electricity duty exemption given to the consumers of captive solar projects. The duty was exempted in the solar policy 2019.
Last year, some generators affiliated to Rajasthan Solar Association had approached the Rajasthan High Court against the duty charged by the discoms. The Jodhpur bench had stayed the duty demand of the discoms.
Recently, some buyers of the captive power had also approached the court against the billing of duty saying that they were exempted from the levy as per the provisions in the solar policy. The Jodhpur bench had provided them cover with a stay against the duty.
But in May 10, the energy department had issued an order removing the exemption from the policy. That means no projects after the order would be eligible for the electricity waiver. A representative of the industry said that this sends a wrong message to the investors community.
“If policy decisions are not implemented and changed, investors will not trust the government. The solar policy is a decision taken by the Cabinet. Investors come to the state based on the provisions of the policy. By changing the policy mid-way, you are only reducing the trust factor,” said the representative preferring anonymity.
He said before removing the policy decision, the department should have gone to the cabinet for a larger discussion. “Now, it seems that the energy department taken the decision without the Cabinet’s approval,” he added.
In fact, after the policy was rolled out, a notification should have been issued by the finance department. “Since, it was a policy decision, investors trusted it thinking the notification would be a natural process. But it never came,” he added.
The duty waiver was there for a couple years before it expired in March 2020. The solar policy too allowed duty waiver for seven years.
Source: PTI
