Ministry of Power

29.06.2021

Electricity

Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules, 2021

MANU/POWR/0021/2021

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) read with clause (z) of sub-section (2) of section 176 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (Act 36 of 2003), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, to amend the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, namely:-

1. (1) These rules may be called the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Amendment Rules, 2021.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. In the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 (hereinafter referred to as the said rule), in rule 2, in sub-rule (1),-

(a) after clause (i), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-

'(ia) "gross-metering" means a mechanism whereby the total solar energy generated from Grid Interactive rooftop Solar Photovoltaic system of a Prosumer and the total energy consumed by the Prosumer are accounted separately through appropriate metering arrangements and for the billing purpose, the total energy consumed by the Prosumer is accounted at the applicable retail tariff and total solar power generated is accounted for at feed-in tariff determined by the Commission;';

(b) after clause (j), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:-

'(ja) "net-billing or net feed-in" means a single bidirectional energy meter used for net-billing or net feedin at the point of supply wherein the energy imported from the Grid and energy exported from Grid Interactive rooftop Solar photovoltaic system of a Prosumer are valued at two different tariffs, where-

(i) the monetary value of the imported energy is based on the applicable retail tariff;

(ii) the monetary value of the exported solar energy is based on feed-in tariff determined by the Commission;

(iii) the monetary value of the exported energy is deducted from the monetary value of the imported energy to arrive at the net amount to be billed (or credited / carried-over);

(jb) "net-metering" means a mechanism whereby solar energy exported to the Grid from Grid Interactive rooftop Solar Photovoltaic system of a Prosumer is deducted from energy imported from the Grid in units (kWh) to arrive at the net imported or exported energy and the net energy import or export is billed or credited or carried-over by the distribution licensee on the basis of the applicable retail tariff by using a single bidirectional energy meter for net-metering at the point of supply;'.

3. In the said rules, in rule 11, -

(a) for sub-rule (4), the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely:-

"(4) The arrangements for net-metering, gross-metering, net-billing or net feed-in shall be in accordance with the regulations made by the State Commission, from time to time:

Provided that where the regulations does not provide for net-metering, net-billing or net feed-in, the Commission may allow net metering to the Prosumer for loads up to five hundred Kilowatt or upto the sanctioned load, whichever is lower and net-billing or net feed-in for other loads:

Provided further that in the case of Prosumers availing net-billing or net feed-in, the Commissions may introduce time-of-the-day tariffs whereby Prosumers are incentivised to install energy storage for utilization of stored solar energy by them or feeding into the grid during peak hours thus helping the grid by participating in demand response of the Discoms:

Provided also that in case of net-metering or net-billing or net feed-in, the distribution licensee may install a solar energy meter to measure the gross solar energy generated from the Grid Interactive rooftop Solar Photovoltaic system for the purpose of renewable energy purchase obligation credit, if any:

Provided also that the Commission may permit gross-metering for Prosumers who would like to sell all the generated solar energy to the distribution licensee instead of availing the net-metering, net-billing or net feed-in facility and the Commission shall decided for this purpose the generic tariff for gross-metering as per tariff regulations:'

(b) for sub-rule (13), the following sub-rule shall be substituted namely:-

"(13) The solar energy generated by prosumer shall be adjusted against energy consumed and bill amount as per regulations made by the Commission for Grid Interactive rooftop Solar Photovoltaic system."

Tags : Rights Consumers Rules

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