The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has set an additional surcharge of ₹0.93 (~$0.011)/kWh for the consumers of four state-owned distribution companies (DISCOM) — DGVCL, MGVCL, PGVCL, and UGVCL — who avail power through open access from any source other than their DISCOMs.

The additional surcharge will apply to purchased power from October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

Background

GUVNL and the four DISCOMs filed an appeal before the Appellate Tribunal For Electricity (APTEL) against an order that decided the applicability and methodology of additional surcharges to open-access consumers in 2018.

The four DISCOMs and GUVNL asked for a revision of the formula to compute the additional surcharge applicable in the future.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Kutch Industries Associations and the Federation of Gujarat filed a petition in the same year, seeking determination, adjudication, regulation, and clearer statutory enunciation of the methodology regarding additional surcharge.

The Commission, in turn, revised the methodology for calculating the additional surcharge payable by open access consumers and directed GUVNL to submit the data certified by SLDC and a chartered accountant for every six months from October to March and April to September within 90 days of the completion of the six months.

It was decided that the additional surcharge would be determined based on the submitted data for six months.

Commission’s analysis

The Commission observed that GUVNL has submitted the data certified by SLDC and a chartered accountant. GUVNL and the four DISCOMs uploaded the data to their websites.

It also sought additional details based on the analysis’s observations about a reduced available capacity from April 2023 to September 2023.

Additionally, the Commission sought further details on the declared capacity, scheduled capacity, and fixed costs corresponding to the additional allocation of central generating stations to optimize power purchase costs from the Ministry of Power.

It also asked for clarifications about zero open access scheduled energy during certain time blocks.

Based on the analysis, an additional surcharge was worked out at ₹0.93 (~$0.011)/kWh, applicable from October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

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