Performance at the Appellate Tribunal as an indicator of regulatory capacity: The case of TNERC at APTEL

The paper analyses all appeal orders at the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) from 2013 onwards where the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) was either an appellant or respondent. The TNERC is not able to hold its ground in 52% of appeals. Of these 24% of the appeals are “remanded” back to the TNERC, suggesting that it did not even do a good job of ensuring that all the evidence necessary to decide a matter was brought on record, despite being conferred the powers of a Civil Court for such purposes under Section 94 of the Electricity Act, 2003. Further, the TNERC lost 86% of matters that involved issues related to how it uses its regulatory powers. Analysis of these orders helps identify areas of concern, and can guide the management and board of the regulator towards remedial action, providing a pathway to enhancing regulatory state capacity.