The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has revised the additional surcharge for open access power consumers to ₹0.87 (~$0.0105)/kWh for the period from October 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

The revised additional surcharge is an increase of 14.47% from ₹0.76 (~$0.0091)/kWh set for the first half of the financial year (FY) 2023-24, from April 1, 2023, to September 30, 2023.

The Commission arrived at the levy through the revised methodology for calculating the additional surcharge, issued in an order back in 2022.

The Commission had directed Gujrat Urja Vikas Nigam (GUVNL) to submit the data duly certified by the State Load Despatch Center for each of the six months of October to March and April to September within 90 days of completion of the six-month period.

It also directed GUVNL to calculate the additional surcharge based on the data provided for the subsequent six-month period. In other words, the additional surcharge determined using data from April to September of a given year would apply to the period from April to September of the following year, and this cycle would continue.

GUVNL submitted the specified data from October 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023, for determination of the additional surcharge for the period from October 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

The Commission took into account the transmission and distribution (T&D) losses of 14.13%, which is the lower figure between the normative T&D losses approved by the Commission for FY 2022-23, set at 14.88%, and the most recent trued-up T&D losses reported by the distribution companies (FY 2021-22), which stood at 14.13%.

Additionally, the Commission considered 7.14% to work out the network-related cost paid by open access consumers through demand charges.

After analyzing the data provided by GUVNL, the Commission worked out an additional surcharge of ₹0.87 (~$0.0105)/kWh, applicable from October 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

Recently, Gujarat unveiled its renewable energy policy focusing on leveraging the state’s potential of 36 GW of solar and 143 GW of wind capacity to enable a cost-effective and reliable power supply.

Earlier, GERC had issued the draft Terms and Conditions for Green Energy Open Access Regulations 2023 to include rules for banking and other open access charges applicable for clean energy open access consumers.

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