In Brief
A power plant built temporarily for the 2010 Commonwealth Games with a contracted six-year operational life sought to recover its entire capital cost through depreciation over its fifteen-year technical lifespan, even though it stopped supplying electricity after six years. The Court held that consumers cannot be charged for electricity not supplied. Depreciation must align with the contractual operational period, not technical equipment life. The Court balanced utilities' right to reasonable cost recovery against the paramount duty to safeguard consumer interests. Since the plant had freely available options to operate as a merchant generator, shifting unrecovered costs to Delhi consumers violated this balance.
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