Power India found that the Power Ministry has issued directives to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) on open access, yet another push for granting open access to all electricity consumers with power requirement of 1 MW and above.
The ministry has taken the decision after observing that the regulators had not taken seriously its letter of November 30,2011, in this regard, and instead have either determined the energy charges or are in the process of determining the charges.
This comes at a time when there has been a growing resistance from distribution companies to the open access system, as they fear they might lose consumers who cross-subsidise the agriculture and low-income power consumers.
Mr. Parmod Deo, Chariman, CERC said
“CERC has already complied with the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003. It has put in place regulations whereby any consumer is free to purchase power from any source – which may be for short term, medium term or long term”
CERC had powers to regulate inter-state connectivity while under section 42 of the Electricity Act, 2003, the state electricity regulatory commissions(SERCs) had powers over open access. Therefore, state governments could issue policy directives to SERCs to implement the law ministry’s interpretation on open access.
Currently, of the 1,86,000 MW power the country produces, 38% was consumed by industries, and after adding consumers like the Railways and defence, the figure was around 45%, said the power ministry. So, such consumers should be allowed source power according to their choice.
About 40,000 MW of power were in private hands, and the number of private players had not entered into any power sale agreement.
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