New
Delhi: Worried about power shortages in the country,
the chief ministers'' conference on power has resolved
to operationalise open access in transmission and distribution
segments.
The
final resolution passed by the chief ministers'' conference
agreed to "issue policy directives to regulators,
if necessary, to appropriately restructure cross subsidy
surcharge, wheeling charges and other charges, with a
view to augment the quantum of power flowing into the
grid in the prevailing environment of shortages".
Operationalising
open access is likely to ensure an additional 5,000-6,000
mw into the system.
Under
Sections 107 and 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003, the
governments central and state can issue
policy directives to the regulator. However, these are
in rare circumstances. The government has yet to invoke
the clause of the Act.
Rationalisation
of levies and cross-subsidy charges has been an issue
that has been discussed by the Forum of Regulators.
There
is no consensus on how to calculate cross-subsidy surcharge,
the payment that a customer has to make to the incumbent
utility when opting for a different power supplier. Regulators
have maintained that the cross-subsidy formula in the
National Tariff Policy is not practical as there is a
huge differential in the surcharge.
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