TNERC issues an amendment to prioritise energy adjustment

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has issued an amendment to the ‘Grid-Connectivity and Intrastate open Access Regulations, 2014.’ The amendment seeks to prioritise energy adjustment from different sources based on the cost of energy generated, the shelf life of firm power that cannot be stored, and the banking of energy provided to the sources. The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) requested the Commission to set the order for priority of adjustment of energy when a high tension (HT) consumer wheeled or purchased power from multiple sources of energy under the open access arrangement. Background TANGEDCO hosted the petition for comments from stakeholders. Subsequently, a draft amendment to the ‘Grid Connectivity and Open Access Regulations, 2014’ was published on the Commission’s website inviting comments from stakeholders in December last year. Open access consumers procure power from multiple energy sources. Effective functioning of consumers’ choices to purchase power from different sources requires a set of rules that govern the distribution licensee and the open access customer. It had become necessary to evolve a sequence of adjustments of energy purchased or wheeled by open access consumers considering the status of generating entities, environment, economics, and regulatory principles to settle transactions and energy accounting.