Ministry Of Power Asks All SERCs To Notify Green Tariffs Under Open Access 

The Ministry of Power, in its latest order, has asked all the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) to notify green tariffs under the Green Energy Open Access Regulations. It comes after the Ministry notified the Green Energy Open Access rules in June last year.

The Ministry also pointed out that some of the state commissions have ordered fixing the green tariffs, which were higher and not in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry. The Ministry earlier had issued the regulations on June 6, 2022, and later amended it on January 27, 2023. 

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The central rules mandated that the state commissions fix the green tariffs as per the charges specified by the Ministry for green energy open access. However, in its latest order, the Ministry said that it also saw some defiance in its compliance in several states.

“It has come to notice that only a few States have determined the Green Tariffs; however, such tariffs had been set at a rate much higher than the Average Power Purchase Cost of renewable energy procured by the Discoms. Therefore, it is imperative that to incentivize more and more use of renewable energy, the tariff is strictly in accordance with said Rules. In view of this position, it is clarified that in no case the Green Tariff should be higher than the Average Power Purchase Cost of RE + Surcharge @ 20% of ACoS + (say) a reasonable margin of 25 paisa,” the order from the Ministry said. 

The Power Ministry said that some of the state commission orders were not aligned with the Green Energy Open Access Regulations. 

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“Some SERCs which have notified the Green Energy Open Access Regulations have not completely aligned the regulations in accordance with the rules notified by the Ministry. The SERCs which have not notified Green Energy Open Access regulations to need to notify the regulations in a time-bound manner. It may be noted that Rules framed under the Act have the force of law, and any violation of the law is liable for action under the provisions of the law,” the Ministry said. 

The government order directed all the SERCs to take appropriate action to determine Green Tariff, implement the Green Energy Open Access Rules and align their state rules in accordance with the notified central rules at the earliest. It has also asked the state commissions to send their compliance in the next 15 days.