On June 28, 2021, the Ministry of Power has issued the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) (Amendment) Rules, 2021 to further amend the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020.
The following amendments have been made:
1. In the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, in Rule 2 relating to Definitions,
(a) Following clauses shall be inserted, namely:-
‘(ia) “gross-metering” means a mechanism whereby the total solar energy generated from Grid Interactive rooftop Solar Photovoltaic system of a Prosumer and the total energy consumed by the Prosumer are accounted separately through appropriate metering arrangements and for the billing purpose, the total energy consumed by the Prosumer is accounted at the applicable retail tariff and total solar power generated is accounted for at feed-in tariff determined by the Commission;’;
‘(ja) “net-billing or net feed-in” means a single bidirectional energy meter used for net-billing or net feed-in at the point of supply wherein the energy imported from the Grid and energy exported from Grid Interactive rooftop Solar photovoltaic system of a Prosumer are valued at two different tariffs, where-
(i)the monetary value of the imported energy is based on the applicable retail tariff;
(ii)the monetary value of the exported solar energy is based on feed-in tariff determined by the Commission;
(iii)the monetary value of the exported energy is deducted from the monetary value of the imported energy to arrive at the net amount to be billed (or credited / carried-over);
(jb) “net-metering” means a mechanism whereby solar energy exported to the Grid from Grid Interactive rooftop Solar Photovoltaic system of a Prosumer is deducted from energy imported from the Grid in units (kWh) to arrive at the net imported or exported energy and the net energy import or export is billed or credited or carried-over by the distribution licensee on the basis of the applicable retail tariff by using a single bidirectional energy meter for net-metering at the point of supply;’.
3. In Rule 11 relating to Consumer as prosumer, sub-rule (4) and (13) shall be substituted with the following
(4) The arrangements for net-metering, gross-metering, net-billing or net feed-in shall be in accordance with the regulations made by the State Commission, from time to time:
Provided that where the regulations does not provide for net-metering, net-billing or net feed-in, the Commission may allow net metering to the Prosumer for loads up to five hundred Kilowatt or upto the sanctioned load, whichever is lower and net-billing or net feed-in for other loads:
Provided further that in the case of Prosumers availing net-billing or net feed-in, the Commissions may introduce time-of-the-day tariffs whereby Prosumers are incentivised to install energy storage for utilization of stored solar energy by them or feeding into the grid during peak hours thus helping the grid by participating in demand response of the Discoms:
Provided also that in case of net-metering or net-billing or net feed-in, the distribution licensee may install a solar energy meter to measure the gross solar energy generated from the Grid Interactive rooftop Solar Photovoltaic system for the purpose of renewable energy purchase obligation credit, if any:
Provided also that the Commission may permit gross-metering for Prosumers who would like to sell all the generated solar energy to the distribution licensee instead of availing the net-metering, net-billing or net feed-in facility and the Commission shall decided for this purpose the generic tariff for gross-metering as per tariff regulations:’
(13) The solar energy generated by prosumer shall be adjusted against energy consumed and bill amount as per regulations made by the Commission for Grid Interactive rooftop Solar Photovoltaic system.
