Small consumers to get Green Energy through open access

The limit of Open Access Transaction has been reduced from 1 MW to 100 KW for green energy

Hyderabad: The Central government has simplified the norms for direct purchases of green energy from the open market (open access) to benefit small consumers. The limit of Open Access Transaction has been reduced from 1 MW to 100 KW for green energy. Currently, only those consumers with a load of 1000 kilowatts are allowed to purchase green energy from the open access market.

With the new amendment now electricity consumers having one or more number of electricity connections within the same electricity sub-division (equivalent to revenue division) can purchase solar and wind energy under open access mode and save a lot of power bills. However, the contract load of the electricity connections to the concerned consumer should be at least 100 KW and above.

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The union Ministry of Power issued a gazette notification on May 27 bringing into force ‘The Electricity (Promoting Green Energy through Green Energy Open Access) Second Amendment Rules-2023’, allowing consumers with loads of 100 kilowatts and above to purchase green energy from anywhere in the country. The move is expected to prompt smaller industries, commercial consumers, and large households to shift towards green energy.

At present, most of the electricity in the State is supplied to the consumers from the Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited(TSSPDCL) and Northern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited (TSNPDCL) . While the large industries apart from purchasing power from Discoms also procure energy from open access for their need and for such purchases, discoms charge an additional surcharge of up to 50 paise per unit from the consumers. However, as per the new norms discoms will not be allowed to charge any additional surcharge for purchasing green energy through open access.

According to Energy Department officials, large residential buildings, commercial and industrial consumers with a load of 100 kilowatts will benefit from the new scheme. However, they claim that the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) needs to make certain amendments to the existing rules to implement the new central norms.

Telangana is in the forefront in solar energy generation in the country with a contracted capacity of 5,741 MW, with a total renewable capacity of 6,151 MW.

Under the current open-access regulations, a large consumer (typically with a minimum load of 1 MW) may procure electricity either from a third party (by signing bilateral agreements for power purchase) or set up their own (captive/group captive) power plant. They can use the state/central transmission and distribution network to supply this power. Under the current regulation, a consumer may procure power on a short-term basis (up to a month), medium-term basis (three months to three years), or long-term basis (12-25 years).