Draft Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Sharing of Inter-State Transmission Charges and Losses) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2023

  • The Central Electricity Regulation Commission (CERC) has issued draft Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Sharing of Inter-State Transmission Charges and Losses) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2023 (Draft Regulation) on March 17, 2023.
  • By way of the public notification, the CERC has inviting comments/suggestions/objections from the stakeholders and interested persons on the above Draft Regulations on or before April 17, 2023.
  • CERC has proposed that an Inter-State Transmission Licensee shall be paid 20% of Yearly Transmission Charges (YTC) of its Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) for a period of 6 months from deemed Date Of Commercial Operation (COD) or till commencement of actual power flow, whichever is earlier.
  • The Inter-State Transmission Licensee shall be paid 100& of YTC of its ISTS from 7th month till commencement of actual power flow, in case actual power flow does not commence within a period of 6 months from date of deemed COD. These charges shall be disbursed from charges collected under 3rd bill.

CERC (Sharing of Inter-State Transmission Charges and Losses) (First Amendment) Regulations, 2023

  • CERC has notified the CERC (Sharing of Inter-State Transmission Charges and Losses) (First Amendment) Regulations, 2023 (First Amendment) on February 7, 2023. By way the First Amendment, the CERC has amended the CERC (Sharing of Inter- State Transmission Charges and Losses) Regulations, 2020 (Principal Regulations).
  • Key aspects:
    • The words 'Long Term Access and Medium Term Open Access' shall be substituted by the word 'GNA and GNARE' in Sub-Clause (g) of Clause (1) of Regulation 25 of the Principal Regulations.
    • 'Associated Transmission System' or 'ATS' shall have the same meaning as defined in GNA Regulations. 'Drawee DIC' shall mean the DICs which draw power through ISTS but shall not include the ESS for the purpose of sharing of transmission charges under Regulations 5 to 8 of these Regulations.
    • The bills for sharing of transmission charges shall be raised on the Drawee DICs in terms of these Regulations and the settlement of the transmission charges inter se between Drawee DICs and the generating station or the seller, wherever necessary, shall be made in terms of the PPA or as per the mutual agreement between the concerned parties. The Yearly Transmission Charges for the National Component shall be shared by all the Drawee DICs in proportion to their quantum of GNA and GNARE.
    • Waiver of transmission charges for the use of ISTS shall be applicable for scheduling power under GNA, GNARE T-GNA and T-GNARE from (i) REGS or RHGS based on wind or solar sources, or (ii) ESS charged with energy sourced from REGS or RHGS, or (iii) generation based on hydro power sources.
    • Late payment surcharge shall be payable by the concerned DIC as per the LPS Rules in case the payment of any bill for charges payable under these Regulations is delayed by a DIC, beyond the due date.
    • Failure on the part of a DIC to make payment of transmission charges against the bills by the due date under these regulations shall make such DIC liable for action by the Central Transmission Utility, on behalf of Inter-State Transmission Licensee(s) in accordance with LPS Rules.

First Amendment of the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (Fuel and Power Purchase Cost Adjustment ) Regulations, 2023

  • Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has issued the First Amendment (Amendment) to the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (Fuel and Power Purchase Cost Adjustment ) Regulations, 2023 (Principal Regulation) on February 23, 2023.
  • By way of the amendment, KERC has proposed three new clauses to the Principal Regulation:
    • Clause 4.4: The Distribution Licensee shall pass an order for recovery/refund of FPPCA for each billing month before the commencement of billing month. The Distribution Licensee shall submit the copy of the order along with all the relevant documents and data in the formats prescribed in these Regulations to the Commission before 15th day of the respective billing month.
    • Clause 4.5: In case the Distribution Licensee fails to compute and charge FPPCA for any billing month, except in case of any Force Majeure conditions, its right for recovery of costs on account of FPPCA shall be forfeited and in such cases, the right to recovery the FPPCA determined during true-up shall also be forfeited. Provided that the Distribution Licensee may decide, FPPCA or port thereof, to be carried forward to the subsequent month in order to avoid any tariff shock to consumers. But the carry forward of FPPCA shall not exceed a maximum duration of two months and such carry forward shall only be applicable, if the total FPPCA for a billing month, including any carry forward of FPPCA of the previous month, exceeds twenty percent of variable component of approved fuel and power purchase cost.
    • Clause 4.6: The State Load Dispatch Centre shall publish the reconciled energy account, Distribution Licensee-wise, for the power supplied for each of the months, within 10th day of the subsequent month.

Ministry of Power (MoP) letter on fair distribution of available domestic coal

  • The MOP on March 24, 2023 issued a letter to Chief Secretaries of all States/UTs regarding fair distribution of available domestic coal. A meeting dated March 07, 2023, was held regarding preparations for uninterrupted power supply during high demand period in April-May 2023 wherein it was decided that the available coal supply shall be distributed amongst GENCOs (Central, State & IPPs) in a fair and transparent manner by using the following principles of fair distribution:
    • Allocation of domestic coal shall be in the ratio of fortnightly average generation of generating stations.
    • While implementing the above, the coal required by all pithead stations of respective GENCOs would be excluded as it does not use the railway network.
    • Usage of 'Road Only' for talking off coal by all the plants would be excluded as per their requirement.
    • Availability of coal through captive mines would be excluded for allocation of rail rakes from CIL/SCCL.
    • The coal availability from captive mines will be taken at the level of availability in March , 2023 plus five percent.
    • Rakes of States found selling power generated from domestic coal at notified price in power exchange will be reduced accordingly. It is advised that surplus power shall be made available to other DISCOM's through PuShP portal by the CEA.
    • The allocation shall be operationalized from April 01, 2023.

Renewable Generation Obligation as per the Revised Tariff policy, 2016

  • The Central Government notified the Revised Tariff Policy, 2016 vide Resolution No. 23/2/2005- R&R in exercise of powers conferred under Section 3(3) of the Electricity Act, 2003 on January 28, 2016.
  • Under Clause 6.4(5) of the Tariff Policy, 2016, it has been decided that any generating company establishing a coal/lignite based thermal generating station having Commercial Operation Date (COD) on or after April 01, 2023 shall be required to establish renewable energy generating capacity as per Renewable Generation Obligation (RGO) of a minimum 40% of the capacity of coal/lignite based thermal stations or procure and supply to such capacity.
  • Coal/lignite based thermal generating station with COD between April 01, 2023 and March 31, 2025 shall be required to comply with RGO by April 01, 2025 and projects with COD after April 01, 2025 shall be required to comply by the COD.
  • Exemption shall be provided to captive coal/lignite based thermal generating stations from requirement of RGO subject to its fulfilment of the Renewable Purchase Obligation as notified by the Central Government.

MOP directions to all imported coal based generating companies under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003

  • The Ministry of Power, Government of India (MoP) issued the Section 11 direction to all the imported coal based generating companies to operate at full capacity. If any imported coal-based plant is under the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the resolution professional must take steps to ensure it becomes functional.

Extension for installation of grid-connected solar power plants under Component -A of PM-KUSUM Scheme

  • The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued an office memorandum for the extension of the installation of grid-connected solar power plants under Component -A of PMKUSUM Scheme.
  • The extension is till September 30, 2023, to complete the projects sanctioned under the said component during FY 2019-20.
  • The extension will be available only to the projects where the financial closure is reported by the beneficiary to the State Implementation Agencies on or before March 31, 2023. The balance capacity which does not meet these deadlines will be withdrawn and re-allocated to the states based on fresh proposals.

CERC order in Petition No. 01/SM/2023

  • The CERC has notified certain directions in the interest of grid security in pursuance of the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 and the provisions of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Deviation Settlement Mechanism and Related Matters) Regulations, 2022 (Suo Moto Directions).
    • The CERC has relaxed Regulation 7 of the DSM Regulations, 2022 to provide that the Normal Rate of Charges for Deviations for a time block as specified in Regulation 7 of the DSM Regulations, 2022 shall be equal to the higher of the weighted average ACP of the Day Ahead Market segments of all the Power Exchanges; and the weighted average ACP of the Real Time Market segments of all the Power Exchanges, for that time block, subject to a ceiling of INR 12 per kWh, until further order.
    • The Charges for Deviations for drawal of start-up power before COD of a generating unit or for drawal of power to run the auxiliaries during shut-down of a generating station shall be payable at the reference charge rate or contract rate or in the absence of reference charge rate or contract rate, the weighted average ACP of the Day Ahead Market segments of all Power Exchanges for the respective time block, as the case may be.
    • The charges for inter-regional deviation caused by way of over drawal or under drawal or over injection or under-injection shall be payable or receivable, as the case may be, at the normal rate of charges for deviation.
    • The contract rate or the reference rate referred to in Regulation 8 of the DSM Regulations, 2022 shall be the weighted average of the contract rates of all such contracts.

CERC order in Suo Moto Petition No. 2/SM/2023

  • The CERC has issued the order dated February 14, 2023, in Suo Moto Petition No. 2/SM/2023 with the aim to ensure smooth and uninterrupted generation in thermal power plants and to help distribution companies meet their universal supply obligation has towards the consumers (Suo Moto Order).
  • The CERC, by way of the Suo Moto Order, has held that there is no need for prior permission from beneficiaries for blending, subject to technical feasibility and unless otherwise agreed specifically in the Power Purchase Agreement. The operation of second and third provisos of Sub Regulation 3 of Regulation 43 of 2019 Tariff Regulations has been kept in abeyance till September 30, 2023 or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

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