The Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has issued draft amendments to the 2017 regulations on deviation settlement mechanism for grid-connected power.

The draft is up for comments and suggestions up to January 24, 2019.

The regulations aim to maintain grid discipline and grid security. These regulations were made in line with the deviation settlement regulations put in place by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The CERC recently notified fourth amendment to CERC Deviation Settlement Regulations which then necessitated amendment in the RERC regulations too. The new regulations will be called the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (Deviation Settlement Mechanism and related matters) (First Amendment) Regulations, 2019, and will come into effect from April 1, 2019.

Amendments

• The charges for deviation, when actual power injection is higher or lower than the scheduled generation, will not exceed energy charges as billed for the previous month. This will apply to project whose tariff is determined by RERC.
• No retrospective revision of deviation settlement mechanism account will be allowed even if the energy charges are revised later.
• The charges for the deviation irrespective of the fuel source, when actual power injection is higher or lower than the scheduled generation, will not exceed ₹3.03 (~$0.04)/kWh. This will apply to projects whose tariff is not determined by RERC.
• The total deviation from schedule in energy terms during a day will not be more than 3 percent of the total schedule for those drawing power and 1 percent for the generators.
• Additional charge of 20 percent of the daily base deviation settlement payable will be applicable in case of violation.
• Additional charge for deviation for under-injection of electricity by a seller, during the time-block when grid frequency is “below 49.85 Hz”, will be equivalent to 100 percent of the cap rate.
• In the event of sustained deviation from schedule in one direction, the entity will have to change the sign of their deviation from schedule, at least once, after every six time blocks. Violation of the requirement under this clause will attract an additional charge of 20 percent on the daily base deviation settlement payable.
• Additional charge for violation of sign change stipulation will be levied for each such violation during the day.

Recently, the RERC also issued draft regulations to promote rooftop solar systems under net-metering arrangement in the state. Through the amended regulations, the RERC has provided an energy accounting and settlement mechanism.

In October 2018, the commission had released a staff paper on projects registered under renewable energy certificate (REC) mechanism in the state. It had proposed that DISCOMs should purchase the renewable power generated from such projects at the lowest pooled cost notified by the RERC since 2010, that is ₹2.67 (~$0.035)/kWh.