Costs Related to REC Certificates Hiked 2x to 10X By CERC

In an order dated Dec 9, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has accepted the demand of the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC), the designated entity for registration and issuance of REC (Renewable Energy Certificates) to increase charges linked to the certificates. NLDC had submitted that it was losing money in the whole process, and consequently, had requested a revision, along with costs for State Level Load Despatch Centres too.

REC’s, now that they have a validity of 25 years after the changes in the REC Regulations 2022, will no longer earn these centres revalidation charges, another key issue raised by these entities.

The CERC, accordingly, has revised the charges, with the new charges as under.

For the record, the charges as they applied till now were as follows:

i. Application Processing Fees (One Time) – Rs. 1000
ii. Registration Charges (One Time) – Rs 5000
iii. Annual Charges – Rs 1000
iv. Revalidation Charge – Rs 5000
v. REC Issuance Fees – Rs 2 per Certificates

Thus, as readers will note, the charges have been increased by a significant margin, along with those applicable to State load despatch centres, where the new one time accreditation and processing charges have been increased to Rs 30,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. Annual charges for accreditation have also been hiked to Rs 10,000.

Total RECs traded on the Indian Power Exchange in November were 3.72 lacs, at the floor price of Rs 1000, an improvement over the 3.58 lac certificates traded in October.

The higher costs will also help establish a more secure, user friendly online platform than the one in existence, based on the conditions laid down by the new REC regulations.