The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) has dismissed the appeal filed by India Energy Exchange Limited (IEX) against the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (CERC) proceedings in Petition No. 8/SM/2025 on market coupling.
APTEL noted that CERC, through a corrigendum dated January 8, 2026, had replaced the term “order” with “directions” in its July 23, 2025 proceedings, clarifying that these were administrative steps preceding formal regulation-making. The Tribunal held that the impugned directions were not a final adjudicatory determination but intermediate steps in the regulatory process.
On maintainability, APTEL observed that appealability depends on substance, not nomenclature. In the present case, no enforceable right of IEX had been affected, nor had any statutory obligation been imposed. The existing market structure remained unchanged, and the reference to a prospective implementation timeline was not self-executing.
The Tribunal also rejected the claim that apprehended business loss would confer the status of a “person aggrieved,” holding that the appeal was premature in the absence of notified regulations. Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed as not maintainable, with liberty to seek remedies once final regulations are issued.