The utility must adjust outstanding generation dues against charges and avoid disconnection until adjustment is complete.

The petitioner sought a mandamus restraining the respondents from collecting current-consumption charges, demand charges, or arrears until they paid or adjusted ₹9,30,410 allegedly due for electricity supplied during 2025–2026.

At the hearing, counsel for both sides agreed that the matter was covered by the Court’s earlier order in W.P. No. 38309 of 2024 and could be disposed of on the same terms.

Whether the petitioner was entitled to have the outstanding amount for electricity supplied adjusted against its current-consumption and demand charges.

Whether the respondents could take coercive steps to disconnect the petitioner’s electricity supply before the outstanding amount was fully adjusted.

Exercising its jurisdiction under Article 226, the Court followed the directions in M/s. Rajaguru Spinning Mills P. Ltd. v. Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission, W.P. Nos. 6776 of 2020 etc., batch, order dated 28 October 2021, as applied in subsequent similar matters.

Those directions provide that where an outstanding amount owed by the electricity distribution entity is being adjusted, adjustment should continue until the amount is exhausted, and the entity should not disconnect the petitioner’s supply while that adjustment remains incomplete.

The Court did not undertake a separate assessment of the debt or the applicable tariff. Instead, noting the parties’ agreement that the case was covered by an earlier decision, it applied the same approach to the petitioner’s claim for ₹9,30,410.

The Court accordingly disposed of the petition on the terms of the earlier order, which provides for adjustment of the amount due against the petitioner’s electricity charges and protection against disconnection until adjustment is complete.

The writ petition was disposed of on the same terms as the earlier order, with no order as to costs; the connected miscellaneous petition was closed.