RERC upholds penalty for failure to comply

27 Nov 2024 CW Team

The Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has dismissed a petition filed by Star Cotspin against the imposition of fixed charges amounting to Rs 3,281,040 ($38,838) by Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam (AVVNL) on its 2.185 MW behind-the-meter solar project.

The Commission ruled that the fixed charges were rightly levied under the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (Grid Interactive Distributed Renewable Energy Generating Systems) Regulations, 2021.

The Commission emphasised the mandatory obligation of consumers to inform the distribution licensee about solar installations through a prescribed model form within three months of the notification of the 2021 Regulations in respect of existing behind-the-meter installations. Star Cotspin failed to fulfill this requirement, attracting the applicable charges.

Star Cotspin operates a solar project with an installed capacity of 2.185 MW, expanded incrementally between 2017 and 2021. It argued that its expanded 784 kW solar capacity was installed in April 2021, before the regulations became effective on July 1, 2021. Hence, these regulations should not apply.

It contended that its installations were governed by the RERC (Terms and Conditions for Tariff Determination from Renewable Energy Sources) Regulations, 2020, under which no fixed charges were applicable. AVVNL asserted that the petitioner failed to notify it about the expanded solar project in the prescribed manner, as mandated by the 2021 Regulations. It emphasised that the fixed charges were imposed post-July 2021, under the new regulations, and not retroactively.

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