The Hindu Business Line : CERC streamlines open access norms

THE Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has announced streamlining of the norms for seeking open access in inter-State transmission; the regulator has introduced a monthly timetable for advance reservation of transmission capacity.

In its amendments to the open access regime, which will be applicable from April 1 this year, the regulator has also proposed part-day transmission charges to reduce the cost of wheeling peaking power.

Under the part-day charges introduced by CERC, the transmission cost for short-terms customers is only a fourth of the daily charges, if they use the transmission lines for six hours or less in a day. Similarly, for usage of up to 12 hours a day, only half of the per-day charges shall be applied, a CERC release said.

Under the monthly timetable that has been introduced for the grant of transmission access to short-term customers, there will be a provision for advance reservation of lines for three months.

Applications must be submitted by the 19th day of the month. They will be processed together and access shall be granted by the 26th.

For advance reservations for short-term customers, congestion management will be done through electronic bidding.

The regulator has also announced an exit option to short-term customers, whereby a customer can surrender the reserved transmission capacity by paying a minimum of seven-days charge or the charge for the balance period of reservation, whichever is shorter. CERC has not changed the pricing scheme for intra-regional transmission access.

In line with the original open access norms applicable from February 1 last year, transmission customers have been divided into two categories — long-term and short-term. A long-term customer will be allowed access based on the transmission planning criteria stipulated in the Indian Electricity Grid Code.

Allotment priority of long-term customers will be higher than that of short-term customers. Short-term customers will be the first ones to be curtailed in the event of transmission constraint, according to the norms.

To avoid pan caking, the Commission has decided that for short-term intra-regional transactions, the short term customer shall be charged at the rate of 25 per cent of the last year's effective rate for long-term customers, and average transmission losses shall be applied.

CERC has made amended the open access regulations based on the operational feedback received from stakeholders, an official release said. The regulations were introduced for in February 1, 2004, in pursuance of the Electricity Act, 2003.

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