Rajasthan Amends Net Metering Regulations

The regulations will be enforced after its notification in the official gazette and specifically deliberates upon “Energy Accounting and Settlement”.

Bringing clarity to the renewable energy framework for grid interactive small solar power plants and solar rooftop installations, The Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission has amended the state’s net metering regulations.

The regulations will be enforced after its notification in the official gazette and specifically deliberates upon “Energy Accounting and Settlement” framework according to the explanatory memorandum issued by the commission.

Known as “Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (Connectivity and Net Metering for Rooftop and Small Solar Grid Interactive Systems) (First Amendment) Regulations, 2018,” these amendments follow up on the regulations issued by the commission in 2018.

According to this new mechanism, in case the electricity injected into the grid exceeds the electricity consumed during the billing period, excess electricity shall be paid by the Discoms at its Average Power Purchase Cost (APPC) of the previous year.

However, this is only applicable when the electricity injected in the grid is more than 50 units, otherwise the excess units will be adjusted in the next billing period until a credit of 50 units is achieved.

While drafting these regulations, the commission had thought that the tariff determined through auctions for Mega power projects cannot be made applicable for Rooftop solar PV projects which are of the kilowatt capacities (max.1000 kW) due to higher capital cost of such rooftop projects. Therefore the APPC provision was applied.