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The Hindu
3 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Govt wants to increase industrial and commercial electricity tariff in Karnataka
The government has filed a petition before the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) to reduce the tariff on LT 4(a) — the irrigation pump set category — and increase the tariff for industrial and commercial consumers to fill the revenue gap of ₹4,620 crore. The revenue gap occurs at the electricity supply company (escom) level when there is a deficit between the tariff collected and the expenditure, including power purchase cost, that is incurred. The commission has admitted the review petition. In this year's (FY 2025 – 26) budget, the government of Karnataka had announced a subsidy of ₹16,021 crore for IP sets, and ₹10,101 crore for Gruha Jyothi scheme. However, in the tariff order passed for this year, KERC stated that the subsidy required to provide free power for IP sets is ₹20,095.44 crore. In the petition, the government has also stated that in addition to the subsidy amount of ₹16,021 crore announced in the budget, the government will release an additional subsidy of ₹2,362.47 crore to mitigate the overall shortfall in revenue. Industrialists and experts from the power sector argued that KERC should not have admitted the review petition, as it did not have the necessary criteria. 'A review petition under the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) is a mechanism for a court to reconsider its own judgement or order. This is typically done when there is a mistake or error apparent on the face of the record, new and important evidence is discovered, or another sufficient reason exists. It is a way to correct errors, and not meant to be a second chance to argue the case on merits,' said M. G. Prabhakar, former advisory member, KERC. However, KERC officials said that there are grounds to admit the petition and seek public opinion. 'When the government itself is appealing, we can admit the petition. We have now directed escoms to publish newspaper advertisements and hold public hearings on the matter. We will take a decision based on the recommendations of all stakeholders,' P. Ravikumar, Chairman, KERC told The Hindu. Industrialists, who have already been burdened by a plethora of cess, are dreading an increase in tariff, especially since the recent tariff petition is a multi-year tariff petition. Shiva Kumar R., former president of Peenya Industries Association (PIA), said, 'Industries are already in dire straits. Especially in Bengaluru, the infrastructure is still new, and we face a lot of hardship. The government wants us to increase minimum wage. They have already imposed a tariff of 36 paise per unit for this year to cover the pension and gratuity of escom employees. We are also paying solid waste management (SWM) cess. Instead of burdening us so much, if industries are encouraged, then economic activity and employment generation will increase. Otherwise, how are micro and small-scale industries supposed to operate?' He added, 'We strongly oppose this petition. We will definitely file our objections when a public hearing is called.' For FY 2025 – 26, the energy charges for industrial consumers are ₹6.60 per unit, and for commercial consumers, it is ₹5.95 per unit. The energy charges for both these categories were reduced in the tariff order while the charges for the LT 4(a) category went up from ₹5.65 per unit to ₹8.30 per unit.
The Hindu
09-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
KERC allows installation of solar power projects in spaces other than rooftops
Do you want to install a solar power generation project in your building, but do not have space on your rooftop? You can now install solar power projects wherever there is space on your property as long as it can be done at a height of 8 feet (ground clearance). In a big push to decentralised solar projects, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), in an order issued on Wednesday, extended the net metering/gross metering arrangements provided to Solar Rooftop Photovoltaic (SRTPV) systems to ground mounted solar projects with elevated structures, facade-integrated solar panels on the walls within the premises. The commission has also renamed SRTPV plants as Distributed Solar PV (DSPV) plants, which can be installed in places like car ports and cycle parking spaces on the premises. The solar panels themselves can also be used as roof/top of a structure without any base below it. 'Not every consumer will have space on the rooftop to set up solar panels. Now we have given them a provision to set it up anywhere according to the building bylaws. It will be treated the same way as rooftop solar projects, and what (power) they generate will be set off against what they are consuming,' P. Ravikumar, chairman, KERC, told The Hindu. Considering the growing demand for sustainable and clean energy, which has led to a significant focus on solar projects, the commission issued a discussion paper in March 2025 to seek the stakeholders' insights and recommendations for enhancing solar energy adoption. A public hearing on the matter was held on June 6. Taking into account the suggestions and recommendations, along with the fact that the State has an installed capacity of just 754.89 megawatts (MW) under SRTPV and 5666.22 MW under ground-mounted plants, the commission has brought in some changes to the existing regulations. Virtual and Group Net Metering The commission has also allowed Virtual Net Metering (VNM) and Group Net Metering (GNM) for the DSPV projects heeding to the demand of the stakeholders. 'Under VNM, a group of two or more consumers from the same consumer category can set up solar plants to offset the electricity consumption of more than one electricity service connection(s) of participating consumers located within the area of supply of an electricity supply company (escom). Domestic consumers, group housing societies, institutions run or managed by charitable Institutions/organisations, government buildings including schools, buildings belonging to local authorities shall only be eligible to install Solar plants under virtual net metering arrangements,' Mr. Ravikumar explained. He further explained that under GNM, a consumer can set up a DSPV project in any one of their installations, and the energy that is exported to the grid can be used to set off the electricity consumption of more than one connection under the same name. This is open to all categories of consumers. The minimum size of the plant under both VNM and GNM should be 5 kilowatts (KW). KERC has also eliminated the execution of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for Domestic (LT) consumers up to 150 kW. 'In cases of shifting solar panels due to a change in the location of the consumer within the jurisdiction of the escom, the consumer is allowed to continue the same PPA for its remaining term.
