Karnataka’s power supply companies could be pushed to move towards procuring more clean energy. The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has come out with draft regulations seeking to enhance the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) of the electricity supply companies (Escoms).
Compliance with the RPO is a factor that comes into consideration during the tariff revision for the Escoms.
The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (Procurement of Energy from Renewable Sources) (Fifth Amendment) Regulations, 2017 not only enhances the RPOs for all Escoms, but also proposes to bring about an exception in non-solar RPO (wind, biomass, co-generation, etc). The draft regulations have enhanced the solar RPO from 1.25% in 2017–18 and 1.75% in 2018–19 to 3.5% and 6.75% respectively. Though the non-solar RPOs remain the same for all Escoms, it excludes hydro power purchase.
The proposed amendments also seek to add a clause that permits distribution licencees which have achieved compliance up to 85% to carry forward the shortfall to the next financial year. However, the carry forward option will not be allowed for more than two consecutive financial years. A public hearing on the regulations will be held on January 24.
Y.G. Muralidhara, coordinator of the Karnataka Electricity Governance Network and member of the Central Consumer Protection Council, said the targets were only minimum percentages and there was nothing stopping the Escoms from crossing that number. “These obligations were set when availability of new energy was not this much and it was more expensive. But in the last one year, the cost has come down drastically. However, availability in the State needs to be checked. There also has to be verifiable data to see if they have indeed fulfilled obligations. It also has to be seen if the Escoms are passing on the cost of purchasing renewable energy to the consumer, as this is better and cheaper power now,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bescom officials said the new targets, if finalised, would not be too difficult to achieve. “The target for the ongoing financial year (2017–18) is 12%, and we have two more months to achieve it. The new targets are also achievable as additions to renewable power purchases are happening. We have options such as the solar rooftop scheme for the solar RPO, and even without purchases from the major hydel plants such as Sharavati, we will be able to adhere to the KERC norms,” said an official from Bescom’s power purchase department, and added that the power generation from solar rooftop last year was around 17.5 MU.
Public hearings on tariff revision
Though it is not clear whether compliance with the Renewable Purchase Obligation will impact this year’s power tariff revision or not, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) will set the ball rolling for the process of determining the tariffs for the coming financial year in February. Having already received the tariff petitions from the Escoms, the KERC will start public hearings from February 19.
The five electricity supply companies (Escoms), in their tariff petitions to the KERC, have sought hikes ranging from 82 paise to 162 paise for the financial year 2018–19.
