Open access norms offer a small window for power reforms

Proposed regulations add ambiguity to idea of choice in power supply

The power ministry has suggested that all state electricity regulators could follow a uniform formula to compute the extra surcharge on open access consumers.  It also feels that direct subsidy is a better way to support the poorer categories of consumers than cross-subsidising tariff across the board.

The Centre has proposed that open access customers should be required to schedule power for at least 24 hours whenever they seek open access and the state electricity regulatory commissions should determine cross subsidy surcharge (CSS) based on the category-wise cost of supply. The proposed regulations, however, appear more ambiguous than the current open