Households, industry can now buy green energy

New Delhi, June 7

In a major thrust to green power, the government on Tuesday notified rules allowing everyone — from industry to households — to buy renewable energy from discoms and said surcharge could not exceed 50 per cent over 12 years.

Power Minister RK Singh released the Green Open Access Rules, 2022, calling upon the industry to announce targets to go green.

Singh said the rules constituted a major reform to promote renewable energy and said these enabled every citizen to become a stakeholder as India works to achieve its COP26 commitment of 500 GW power generation through non-fossil fuels.

“Anybody, industry or a household, can now demand any share of green energy in their total demand basket,” the Power Minister said.

He called upon industries to announce targets to go green, saying, “The government has now made the transition possible.” The minister said the government had also ensured discoms did not discourage green energy demand by levying additional surcharge, which has been completely done away with in the new legally enforceable regime.

“We have said no additional surcharge on open access for green energy will be levied and the charge should be equal to the common level in the state — not more than 20 per cent as prescribed in tariff policy. Surcharge cannot exceed 50 per cent over 12 years,” Singh said.

He said the industrialists could set up their own power generation capacity or ask developers. “After this, we expect captive power plants owned by industry to gradually switch over to renewable sources, which will be cheaper,” said the minister.

Pro-environment move

• New rules say green open access energy is allowed to any consumer
• The limit of open-access transaction has been reduced from 1 MW (megawatt) to 100 kW for green energy in order to enable small consumers also to purchase renewable power
• The tariff for green energy will be determined by the appropriate commission, which shall comprise the average pooled power purchase cost of renewable energy, cross subsidy, if any, and service charges covering the prudent cost of distribution licence for providing the green energy to the consumers