The Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TGERC) has allowed an additional surcharge of ₹1.09 (~$0.012)/kWh for open access consumers for the second half (2H) of the financial year (FY) 2024-25.

The additional surcharge will be levied on the quantity of electricity scheduled.

The additional surcharge will not apply to open access consumers wheeling power from their captive power projects.

Background

In a suo motu order issued on September 18, 2020, the Commission told distribution companies (DISCOM) to submit filings to determine the additional surcharge for the first half of the year.

Accordingly, the DISCOMs filed a petition to determine an additional surcharge for 2H FY 2025 (October 2024 to March 2025.)

The DISCOMS filed the mechanism for determining stranded capacity, along with the approved methodology and terms and conditions for levying an additional surcharge on open access users, to meet their fixed cost commitment arising from its supply obligations.

The DISCOMs said that the average stranded capacity due to open access consumers for the six months (October 2023 to March 2024) considering the 15-minute block-wise data, is 23.21 MW.

The fixed charges paid to the generators are ₹63.92 billion (~$761.24 million) in 2H FY 2024, and the average long-term available capacity is 9093.12 MW. The average fixed charges are ₹7 million (~$83,365)/MW.

Accordingly, the fixed charges for a stranded capacity of 23.21 MW work out to ₹163.1 million (~$1.94 million).

The transmission charges paid by the DISCOMs for 2H FY 2024  are ₹31.98 billion (~$380.86 million), and the scheduled energy for that period is 46040.41 MU. The actual transmission cost is ₹0.69 (~$0.008)/kWh.

The HT distribution wheeling charges computed per the Commission’s directions in the additional surcharge order for 2H of FY 2025 work out to ₹0.17 (~$0.002)/kWh.

The total T&D costs are ₹0.87(~$0.002)/kWh.

The demand charges recovered by the DISCOMs from open access consumers are ₹1.61 billion (~$19.17 million).

The Commission directed the DISCOMs to exclude revenue recovery for the LT network since the distribution charges of the LT network are not considered on the expenditure side. Accordingly, net demand charges considered in additional surcharge calculations work out to ₹1.19 billion (~$14.17 million).

The demand charges are to be adjusted/(recovered) from open access consumers for a total of ₹57.3 million (~$682,409).

The net stranded charges of ₹105.9 million (~$1.26 million) are considered for calculating the additional surcharge.

The projected open access sales for 2H FY 2024 are 66.05 MU pertaining to open access sales other than captive transactions for the period between October 2023 to April 2024.

Accordingly, the DISCOMs requested the Commission to approve the additional surcharge of ₹1.60 (~$0.019)/kWh for 2H FY 2025.

Commission’s analysis

The commission approved the long-term available capacity of 9093.12 MW as proposed by the DISCOMs.

The commission observed that the DISCOMs followed the approved methodology of the average 15-minute time-block data over six months.

However, the Commission approves the stranded capacity due to open access as 25.19 MW, against the DISCOMs’ claim of 23.21 MW.

The DISCOMs claimed that the fixed charges paid from October 2023 to March 2024 amounted to ₹63.92 billion (~$761.24 million).

After reconciliation with audited annual accounts and deducting the fixed charges of ₹59.48 billion (~$708.37 million), which were already considered for 1H FY 2025, the Commission considered the fixed charges paid as ₹60.26 billion (~$717.66 million) for 2H of FY 2025. The long-term available capacity is 9093.12 MW, resulting in average fixed charges of ₹6.63 million (~$78,968)/MW.

Accordingly, the fixed charges for stranded capacity have been computed as ₹166.9 million (~$1.98 million).

The Commission refuted DISCOM’s claims that fixed charges would vary as the fixed charges paid were recruited.

It determined the transmission charges paid by the DISCOMs to be ₹30.66 billion (~$365.14 million) against ₹31.98 billion (~$380.86 million), with the scheduled energy remaining at 46040.41 MU. Consequently, the transmission charges have been calculated as ₹0.666 (~$0.007)/kWh.

The total transmission and distribution charges are ₹0.8396 (~$0.01)/kWh.

The transmission and distribution charges payable by the open access consumers work out to ₹1.1 billion (~$13.10 million).

The commission noted that the DISCOMs’ demand charges from open access consumers amount to ₹1.61 billion (~$19.17 million). Following the Commission’s directions, the DISCOMs excluded the revenue recovery related to the LT network from the total demand charges recovered from open access consumers and claimed ₹1.19 billion (~$14.17 million) as net demand charges.

The demand charges to be adjusted/(recovered) from open access consumers total ₹94.7 million (~$1.12 million).

Based on the changes in the demand charges, the net stranded charges are ₹72.2 million (~$859,859).

The Commission approved the additional surcharge for 2H FY 2025 at ₹1.09 (~$0.012)/kWh.

However, the additional surcharge will not apply to open-access consumers wheeling power from captive power projects. It will not apply if fixed charges have been paid by  Green Energy Open Access (GEOA) consumers. It will not be levied if the power produced from a waste-energy project is supplied to the GEOA consumer, green energy is utilized to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia, and electricity produced from offshore wind projects is provided to the GEOA consumer.

Recently, the Commission issued a detailed draft procedure for verifying the captive status of power-generating plants and their users in Telangana.

In March 2024, it also issued an order outlining the process for identifying stranded capacity and terms for imposing an additional surcharge on open-access consumers.