According to a recent consultation paper floated by the power regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) for determining the tariff of open access, its introduction to the distribution system in the state is going to take place on the 1st of July.
The commission had earlier notified its open access regulations in January 2006 and has now invited comments and suggestions by the stakeholders through the consultation paper, upon the open access charges.
The paper proposes that for open access consumers, the transmission and wheeling charges will be decided on rupees per Mw per day basis. Further, it has proposed calculating surcharge based on the marginal cost of power purchase or by considering the average cost of the supply for consumers.
The open access regulation - primarily aimed at industrial and commercial users - allows consumers using more than 1 Mw of power to choose their electricity distributor.
Power distribution in the state is currently handled by three major discoms - BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL), BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) and North Delhi Power Ltd (NDPL) - who function independently in their respective areas of operations. However when open access comes into force it will allow consumers to opt for a distributor of their own choice.
The move, according to government officials would be a final step towards privatisation of power in the capital and seeks to encourage competition among the distribution companies (discoms) and thus help consumers get better services.
Distribution companies however, do not seem to be worried by the upcoming regulation and the resulting competition. Asked whether the move will result in BSES losing its customers to other discoms, Arun Kanchan, chief executive officer, BRPL said, "We are ready to accept the competition.
Through open access, we have a chance to get consumers outside BSES areas to come to our network. This is a practice followed in countries abroad. Now, DERC has to finalise the process."
Experts while welcoming the move as a positive step, believe that too much hype has been created over the issue and that open access will still take some more time to be beneficial, especially for domestic consumers.
"Aggregation of electricity load on 1 Mw is not possible for domestic consumers. Also, the problem in Delhi at present is power availability. To be able to procure cheap power, it first has to be available" said an industry expert.
He added that while open access will certainly bring relief for large consumers like shopping mall owners, its benefiting small domestic consumers is still a far- flung possibility.
