1. Short title, application, extent and commencement.-

• These Regulations may be called the ‘Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Renewable Energy and Net Metering) Regulations, 2020’.
• These Regulations shall apply to all the existing and new, Grid Interactive Renewable Energy Systems, consumers, prosumers, captive consumers, captive generating plants, generating companies, distribution licensees and obligated entities, in the matter of Determination of Tariff of Renewable Energy, Renewable Purchase Obligation, Net Metering, Banking, GenerationBased Incentives and related matters.

• These Regulations shall extent to the whole State of Kerala.

• It shall come into force from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

Definitions and Interpretations.-

• Definitions,-In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,

• ‘Act’ means the Electricity Act, 2003 (Central Act 36 of 2003);

• ‘Application’ means a request for connectivity of Renewable Energy System to the State transmission and/or distribution grid,

as the case may be and, as per the application form duly filled in all respect, as required by the distribution licensee, along with the copy of the receipt as proof of   payment of necessary charges and accompanied by all necessary documents including copies of approvals from statutory or other authorities;

• ‘Application form’ means the application form complete in all respects in the appropriate format by the distribution licensee, before the payment of applicable charges;

• ‘Auxiliary energy consumption’ or ‘AUX’ in relation to a period in case of a generating station means the quantum of energy consumed by auxiliary equipment of the generating station and transformer losses within the generating station, expressed as a percentage of the sum of gross energy generated at the generator terminals of each unit of the generating station;

• ‘Banking facility’ means such facility whereby the prosumer or the captive generator of Renewable Energy System injects energy into the grid during a time block or period and have a right to draw back the energy from the grid at a subsequent different time block or period, subject to the terms and conditions specified in these Regulations;

• ‘Beneficiary’ with respect to these Regulations means a licensee who has an agreement with a Renewable Energy Generator for purchase of power from the plant at the tariff approved by the Commission;

• ‘Billing period’ means the period as approved by the Commission for which electricity bills are regularly prepared by the licensee for different categories of consumers;

• ‘Capital cost’ means the capital cost as defined in the Regulations under Chapter V;

• ‘Captive consumer’ means a consumer owning and consuming electricity generated from a captive generating plant including from the captive renewable energy sources or captive co- generation, as the case may be;

• ‘Captive Generating Plant’ means a power plant including the renewable energy plant or co-generation plant, set up by any person to generate electricity primarily for his own use and includes a power plant set up by any co-operative society or association of persons for generating electricity primarily for use of its members and as specified in Electricity Rules, 2005 published by the Government of India and amended from time to time;

• ‘Central Agency’ means the agency operating the National Load Dispatch Centre or such other agency as the Central Commission may designate from time to time for the purpose of implementation of the scheme relating to issuance of renewable energy certificate and performance of other duties as assigned under the provisions of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions for Recognition and Issuance of Renewable Energy Certificate for Renewable Energy Generation) Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time;

• ‘Central Commission’ means the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission referred to in sub-section (1) of Section 76 of the Electricity Act, 2003;

• ‘Certificate’ means the Renewable Energy Certificate issued by the Central Agency in accordance with the procedures approved under the provisions of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions for Recognition and Issuance of Renewable Energy Certificate for Renewable Energy Generation) Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time;

• ‘Co-generation’ means a process which simultaneously produces two or more forms of useful energy (including electricity);

• ‘Commission’ means the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission;

• ‘Conduct of Business Regulations’ means the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Conduct of Business) Regulations, 2003 as amended from time to time;

• ‘Connected load’ expressed in kW or kVA means aggregate of the rated capacities of all energy consuming devices or apparatus which can be simultaneously used, excluding stand-by load if any, in the premises of the consumer, which are connected to the service line of the distribution licensee;

• ‘Connection agreement’ means an agreement between State Transmission Utility (STU), and / or distribution licensee and an eligible entity, for connecting the renewable energy system to the intra-state transmission system and / or distribution system, as per the provisions of the KSERC (Connectivity and Intra-state Open Access) Regulations, 2013;

• ‘Consumer’ means any person who is supplied with electricity for his own use by a licensee or the Government or by any other person engaged in the business of supplying electricity to the public under Electricity Act, 2003 or any other law for the time being in force and includes any person whose premises is, for the time being, connected for the purpose of receiving electricity with the works of a distribution licensee, the Government or such other person, as the case may be;

• ‘Contract Demand or Contracted Demand’ means the maximum demand in kW or kVA, agreed to be supplied by the distribution licensee and indicated in the agreement executed between such licensee and the consumer; or the contracted load or contract demand duly revised thereafter;

• ‘Control Period’ or ‘Review Period’ means the period during which the norms for determination of tariff for renewable energy specified under these Regulations shall remain valid;

• “Eligible consumer” means a consumer getting supply of electricity from the distribution licensee in its area of supply, who intends to use a grid connected Renewable Energy system installed in his premises to offset a part of or all of the consumer’s own electrical energy requirements as per the provisions of these Regulations;

• “Energy and Power’’. ‘Energy’ is the ability to do work, where as the ‘Power’ is the rate of doing work. In SI units, the unit of Power is ‘watt’, ‘kilo watt’ or ‘Mega watt’ and the Energy is measured as ‘‘kilowatt hour (kWh)’;

• ‘Financial Year’ means the period beginning from first of April in a Gregorian calendar year and ending on the thirty first of March of the next calendar year;

• ‘Forbearance Price’ means the ceiling price for the Certificate for each category of renewable energy, as determined by the Central Commission in accordance with the REC Regulations, within which only, the certificate can be dealt in the power exchange;

• ‘Generic tariff’ means the tariff determined in these Regulations for the electricity generated from the Renewable Energy Plants as per the norms and parameters specified in these Regulations;

(aa) ‘Grid Interactive Renewable Energy System’ means a Renewable Energy System which is connected to the transmission or distribution system of the licensee, and is capable of injecting energy into such system;

(ab) ‘Grid Support Charges’ means the charges to be paid by the prosumers, captive consumers and other users, but excludes consumers availing net metering facility having ‘Grid Interactive Renewable Energy Systems’, for facilitating energy injection into the transmission system and/or distribution system irrespective of their connected load or contract demand;

(ac) ‘Gross calorific value’ or ‘GCV’ in relation to a fuel used in a generating station means the heat produced in kCal by complete combustion of one kilogram of solid fuel or one litre of liquid fuel or one standard cubic meter of gaseous fuel, as the case may be;

(ad) ‘Gross station heat rate’   or ‘SHR’ means the heat energy input in kCal required to generate one kWh of electrical energy at the generator terminals of a thermal generating station;

(ae) ‘Hybrid Solar Power Plant’ means the solar powerplant that uses other forms of energy input sources along with solar energy for electricity generation;

(af) ‘Infirm Power’ means the power injected by a generation project into the grid before the Date of Commercial Operation (COD), for testing, trial run & commissioning of the project. Since power from renewable energy sources is non firm in nature, the tariff fixed by the Commission post COD shall also be applicable for the power injected into the licensee system prior to CoD, subject to the condition that the RE generator enters into an agreement with the licensee to supply power from the RE plant at the tariff determined by the Commission.

Provided that, if energy injected into the system by the RE generator prior to CoD without identifying a buyer or if there is no agreement with the licensee regarding the sale of power, SLDC shall settle the transactions at the Deviation Settlement Rates.

(ag) ‘Installed capacity’ or ‘IC’ means the summation of the name platecapacities of all the units of the generating station or the capacity of the generating station (reckoned at the generator terminals), approved by the Commission from time to time;

(ah) ‘Inter-connection Point’ shall mean interface point of renewable energy generating facility with the transmission system or distribution system, as the case may be:

• the interface of the renewable energy system with the outgoing terminals of the meter/distribution licensee’s cut- outs/ switch gear fixed in the premises of the prosumer.
• In relation to wind energy projects and solar photovoltaic Projects, inter-connection point shall be line isolator on outgoing feeder on High Voltage side of the pooling substation;
• In relation to small hydro power, biomass power and non fossil fuel based cogeneration power projects and solar thermal Power Projects the inter-connection point shall be line isolator on outgoing feeder on HV side of generator transformer;

(ai) ‘Invoice’ means either a bill or a supplementary bill or an invoice or a supplementary invoice raised by the distribution licensee relating to the billing cycle or billing period;

(aj)     ‘kW’ means kiloWatt;

(ak) ‘Licensee’ means a person who has been granted license under Section 14 of the Act and includes a person deemed to be a licensee under Section 14 of the Act;

(al) ‘MNRE’ means the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of the Government of India;

(am) ‘Municipal solid waste’ or ‘MSW’ means and includes commercial and residential waste generated in municipal or notified areas in either solid or semi-solid form excluding industrial hazardous wastes but including treated bio-medical waste;

(an) ‘Net meter’ means the bi-directional meter, along with allied metering equipment, to be installed and maintained by the licensee, for reading the net import or export of electrical energy by the prosumer from/ to the distribution system and the corresponding import/export of power from/to the distribution system, and shall be an integral part of the net metering system;

(ao) “Net metering” means an arrangement under which renewable energy system installed at the premise of the prosumer receives or delivers electricity, if any, to the distribution licensee, after off-setting the electricity supplied by distribution licensee during the applicable billing period;

(ap) ‘Non fossil fuel based co-generation’ means the process in which more than one form of energy (such as steam and electricity) are produced in a sequential manner by use of biomass, provided the project may qualify to be a co-generation project if it fulfills the eligibility criteria as specified in these Regulations;

(aq) ‘Non-firm power’ means the power generated from renewable sources, the hourly variation of which is dependent upon nature’s phenomenon like sun, cloud, wind, etc., that cannot be accurately predicted;

(ar) ‘Non-solar Certificate’ means the certificate issued in respect of the electricity generated from renewable sources of energy other than solar source;

(as) ‘Normal Hours or Normal Period’ means the period from 06.00 hours to 18.00 hours on the same day;

(at) ‘Obligated Entity’ means the distribution licensee or the captive consumer or the open access consumer in the State of Kerala, who is mandated to fulfill renewable purchase obligation under these Regulations;

(au) ‘Off-peak Hours or Off Peak Period’ means the period from 22.00 hours to 06.00 hours on the next day;

(av)   ‘Open Access’ means the non-discriminatory provision for the use of transmission lines or distribution system or associated facilities with such lines or system by any licensee or consumer or a person engaged in generation in accordance with the Regulations specified by the Appropriate Commission;

(aw) ‘Operation and maintenance expenses’ or ‘O&M expenses’ means the expenditure incurred on operation and maintenance of the renewable energy system or part thereof, and includes the expenditure on manpower, repairs, spares, consumables, insurance and overheads;

(ax) ‘Peak Hours’ means the period from 18:00 hours to 22:00 hours on the same day;

(ay) ‘Power Exchange’ means any licensed entity operating as an exchange for transaction of electricity in terms of the orders issued by the Central Commission;

(az) ‘Preferential Tariff’ or ‘Feed in Tariff’ means the tariff determined by the Commission for purchase of energy from a generating station using renewable energy sources by a distribution licensee;

(ba) ‘Premises’ includes any land, building, structure or roof top or part or combination thereof; which is included in the details and sketches specified in the application or in the agreement for grant of electric connection or in such other records relating to revision of connected load or contract demand;

(bb) ‘Project’ means a generating station and the   evacuation system up to inter-connection point, as the case may be, and in case of a small hydro generating station, includes all components of generating facility such as dam, intake water conductor system, power generating station and generating units of the scheme as apportioned to power generation till the Date of Commercial Operation (COD) and shall be known as ‘Station’ after the declaration of COD;

(bc) ‘Prosumer’ means a captive consumer, having a renewable energy system installed at the same premise of the consumer who generates and consumes the electricity generated from such renewable energy system and who can also inject the surplus power from the renewable energy system into the grid using the same network;

(bd) ‘REC Regulations’ means the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions for Recognition and Issuance of Renewable Energy Certificate for Renewable Energy Generation) Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time;

(be) ‘Renewable Energy’ means the electricity generated from any renewable sources of energy;

(bf) ‘Renewable Energy Meter’ refers to a unidirectional energy meter, installed and used solely to record the renewable energy generation from renewable energy system installed at the consumer’s premises;

(bg) ‘Renewable Energy System’ means the power plant and connected systems other than the conventional power plant, generating grid quality electricity from renewable energy sources;

(bh) ‘Renewable Purchase Obligation’ or RPO means the obligation of an entity to purchase electricity generated from a renewable source of energy as per these Regulations;

(bi) ‘Renewable Source of Energy’ means the source for the generation of electricity from renewable sources such as small hydro, large hydro with capacity above 25 MW commissioned after 08.03.2019, wind, solar including its integration with combined cycle, biomass, bio fuel cogeneration, urban or municipal solid waste and such other sources approved by the MNRE as renewable source;

(bj) ‘Seller Licensee’ means a distribution licensee which sells electricity to other licensees;

(bk) ‘Settlement Period’ means, the periods for the purpose of accounting of electricity from the following categories of renewable sources,-

• from solar sources, the period from the first day of October in a Gregorian calendar year to the thirtieth day of September in the next calendar year; and

• from non-solar sources, the period from the first day of April in a Gregorian calendar year to the thirty first day of March in the next calendar year;

(bl) ‘Small Hydro’ means Hydro Power projects with a station capacity upto and including 25 MW;

(bm) ‘Solar Certificate’ means the certificate issued in respect of electricity generated from solar source;

(bn) ‘Solar Meter’ means a unidirectional   energy meter installed as an integral part of the net metering system, at the point at which the electricity generated by the solar energy system is delivered to the main panel of the prosumer;

(bo) ‘Solar PV power’ means the Solar Photo Voltaic power project that uses sunlight for direct conversion into electricity through Photo Voltaic technology;

(bp) ‘State Agency’ means the agency in the State of Kerala designated by the Commission to act as the agency for accrediting and recommending the renewable energy system for registration and for undertaking the functions assigned by the Commission under these Regulations;

(bq) ‘Supply Code’ means the ‘Kerala Electricity Supply Code, 2014’, as amended from time to time;

(br) ‘Tariff Order’ in respect of a licensee means the order issued from time to time by the Commission, stipulating the rates to be charged by the licensee from various categories of consumers for supply of electrical energy and for other services;

(bs) ‘Tariff Period’ means the period for which the tariff is determined by the Commission on the basis of the norms specified under these Regulations, for the sale of electricity from a renewable energy system. The Tariff period under these Regulations shall be determine with the useful life as defined in Regulation 2.1(bu).

(bt) ‘Time block’ means the period/ duration in a day specified for the purposes of these Regulations.

(bu) ‘Useful Life’ in relation to a unit of a generating station including evacuation system shall mean the following duration from the date of commercial operation (COD) of such generation facility, namely:-

• Wind energy power project                           25 years
• Bio mass power project with

Rankine cycle technology                             20 years

• Non-fossil fuel cogeneration project              20 years
• Small Hydro Electric Plant                            35 years
• Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)/ and Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) based

Power project                                               20 years

• Solar PV/Solar thermal power project              25 years

Interpretations,-

• These Regulations shall be interpreted and implemented in accordance with, and not at variance from, the provisions of the Act and the Rules and Regulations made thereunder.

• Words, terms and expressions as defined in the Electricity Act, 2003 and in the Rules made thereunder by the Central Government, Government of Kerala, Regulations issued by the Central Electricity Authority, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Commission which are used in these Regulations shall have and carry the same meanings as defined and assigned to them in the said Act, Rules and Regulations, unless it has been defined in this Regulation.

• In the interpretation of these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:-
  •      Words in the singular or plural term, as the case may be, shall also be deemed to include the plural or the singular term, respectively;
  •      Reference to any Statute, Rule, Regulation or Guideline shall be construed as including all statutory provisions consolidating, amending or replacing such Statute, Rule, Regulation or Guideline referred to, as the case may be;
  •      terms “include” and “including” shall be deemed to be followed by“ without limitation” or “but not limited to”, regardless of whether such terms are followed by such phrases or words of like import.

Scope and application.-

• The Regulations under this Chapter are applicable to the following grid interactive renewable energy systems with net metering facility installed by a prosumer at his premise, subject to other conditions specified under Regulation 13.

• Grid interactive Distributed Solar Energy Systems.
• Ground mounted solar energy systems.
• Hybrid solar power plant.
• Renewable energy system with battery storage facility.
• Any other Renewable Energy Systems, installed at the premises of a eligible consumer.

General Conditions.-

• The distribution licensee shall provide the net metering arrangement to the prosumer, who intends to install Grid Interactive Renewable Energy Systems at his premise on non-discriminatory and first come first serve basis, within 10 days from the date of submission of the approval of Renewable Energy System from the Electrical Inspector. In case the distribution licensee is not able to provide the net meters within the above mentioned 10 days, the eligible consumer after intimating the licensee can purchase the net meters at his own cost conforming to the specifications to be notified by the licensee at their website. https://greenonenergy.in/

• The Grid Interactive Renewable Energy Systems, installed by a prosumer at his premise under this chapter shall be:

• of not less than one kW and not exceeding 1000 kW capacity on AC side of the invertor connected to the net meter of the distribution system, limited to the sanctioned connected load or contract demand as applicable to the prosumer, with the distribution licensee.

Provided that the domestic consumers with connected load up to 20 kW is permitted to install ‘Renewable Energy System’ of capacity up to 20 kW, irrespective of their connected load.

Provided further that the above limit of 20 kW connected load shall not apply in the case of group housing societies and residential flats, for common services such as lift, common lighting, club house, car parking, common areas etc.

Provided also that, prosumers including those prosumers mentioned above are also permitted to install Renewable Energy System in excess of their connected load or contract demand as applicable. However, the benefit of net metering shall not be allowed to such prosumers and such prosumers shall be treated at par with the prosumers having RE capacity more than 1 MW, as detailed in Chapter IV of these Regulations.

Provided also that, the Renewable Energy Systems installed by the prosumers under net metering as on the date of notification of these Regulations shall be allowed to continue irrespective of their contract demand or connected load.

• located within the premises of the prosumer;
• interconnected and operate safely in parallel with the distribution system of the licensee.

• The grid interactive renewable energy system under net metering installed at the premise of the eligible individual prosumer shall utilize the same service line and installation for injection of excess power into the grid.

Provided that, when a prosumer install Renewable Energy System in excess of the connected or contract demand as applicable, the expense for the augmentation of the distribution system required for connectivity shall be borne by the prosumer.

Provided also that the maximum capacity that can be installed by a single phase consumer shall be limited to 5 kW.

A prosumer having electric connections in different premises owned by him shall be eligible to install separate renewable energy system in each of such premises subject to the provisions of these Regulations.

• The specifications, capacity and output of the renewable energy system shall be in conformity with the provisions relating to the connected load or contract demand permissible at each voltage level as specified in the Kerala Electricity Supply Code, 2014, as amended from time to time.

Connectivity.-

• The distribution licensee shall, without any delay or discrimination, provide net metering arrangements to the prosumer, subject to other provisions and technical limits specified in these Regulations.

• The cumulative capacity of distributed energy systems allowed to be interconnected with the distribution network shall not exceed 75 % of the distribution transformer capacity as the case be.

Provided that the distribution licensee shall publish the individual transformer capacities and the Renewable Energy Systems connected to their respective transformers, section wise, not later than 5^th of every month in the distribution licensees respective section offices and also in the licensee’s website. The Commission may review these provisions after completion of two years from the date of notification of these Regulations.

Inter connection with the Grid, technical Standards and Safety.-

• The interconnection of the renewable energy system with the distribution system of the licensee shall conform to the specifications and standards as provided in the Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for connectivity of the Distributed Generation Resources) Regulations, 2013 and to the relevant provisions of the Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2010, as amended from time to time;

• The Net meter and Renewable energy meter installed shall conform to the standards, specifications and accuracy class, as provided in the Central Electricity Authority (Installation and Operation of Meters) Regulations, 2006, as amended from time to time and be installed in such a manner that they are accessible for reading.

• The licensee shall, while intimating the feasibility as per these Regulations, inform the prosumer, the specifications and such other details of the components, if any, to be installed along with the renewable energy system as per the provisions of these Regulations.

• The prosumer shall comply with the specifications and standards as provided by the licensee and shall install manually operated isolating switch and grid-tied inverter/ associated equipment with sufficient safeguards to prevent injection of electricity from the renewable energy system to the distribution system of the licensee when the distribution system is de- energized.

Metering arrangement.-

• The net meter shall be installed at the interconnection point of the prosumer with the net work of the distribution licensee.

• All meters installed shall comply with the CEA (Installation and Operation of Meters) Regulations, 2006 and subsequent amendments thereof.

Provided that, consumers having ABT compliant meters with net metering facility shall not be required to install additional Net meter.

• The distribution licensee shall make available correct Net meter and Renewable energy meter to the eligible consumer who proposes to install a renewable energy system in his premises.

Provided that, if the eligible consumer elects to purchase the said meter(s), he may procure and present them to the distribution licensee for testing and installation.

Provided further that, the licensee shall complete the testing and installation of the renewable energy meter and the net meter purchased by the eligible consumer, within a period of 14 calendar days from the date of presentation of such meters for testing.

• The distribution licensee shall undertake the testing of meters before installation to ensure accuracy of the meter. The meter(s) shall be jointly inspected by both the eligible consumer and the distribution licensee, and shall be sealed by the distribution licensee.

Provided that, the meters shall be tested, installed and sealed by the distribution licensee in accordance with the provisions of Central Electricity Authority (Installation and Operation of Meters) Regulations, 2006, as amended from time to time, and also as per the procedure specified in the Electricity Supply Code.

• The licensee may collect from the eligible consumer, the security deposit and rent for the renewable energy meter and net meter, if provided by the licensee, at the rates approved by the Commission from time to time.

• The distribution licensee, shall within three months of the date of notification of these Regulations, modify its existing billing infrastructure to facilitate the metering arrangements as envisaged under these Regulations.

Use of excess electricity generated from renewable sources in another premise.-

• The prosumer shall have the right for wheeling the excess electricity during a billing period to another premises owned by him within the area of supply of the distribution licensee subject to the following conditions:-
• the right of wheeling and consumption of excess electricity shall be available to the prosumer irrespective of the category of tariff in the other premises;

• such right for wheeling the excess electricity shall be available for the use in his second premises only after the prosumer meets his full demand in the premises, where the electricity is generated using renewable energy system;
• The quantum of excess electricity wheeled shall be calculated based on sub-Regulation (5) below and accounted in subsequent bills of the other premise.

• The prosumer shall apply to the licensee for availing the wheeling facility as per the sub-Regulation (1) above, with necessary particulars of such other premises where, such excess electricity generated by the renewable energy system installed in one of his premises, is proposed to be used.

• The licensee shall after due verification of the application submitted under sub-Regulation (2) above and after satisfying about its genuineness, grant the permission to use the excess electricity in such other premises owned by the prosumer, within 7 calendar days of receipt of the application.

• The modifications, if any, required in the metering system in such other premises of the prosumer where the excess electricity is proposed to be used, shall be made by the distribution licensee at the cost of the prosumer. Alternatively the prosumer can make such modifications to the metering system at his own cost, subject to the compliance of the distribution licensee standards and technical specifications.

• The prosumer has to bear the applicable wheeling charges, and distribution losses, as approved by the Commission from time to time for the quantum of excess renewable energy wheeled from one of his premise to another premise.

• The electricity generated by a prosumer using the renewable energy system installed in his  premises  and  wheeled to another premise under this Regulations, shall be exempted from payment of cross subsidy surcharges.

Procedure for grant of feasibility certificate to the renewable energy system to be connected with the distribution system.

• Any eligible consumer who proposes to install a renewable energy system in his premises shall apply in the form in Annexure-A to the local office of the distribution licensee, to issue feasibility certificate to connect the renewable energy system to the distribution system of the licensee along with the application fee as specified in the Schedule to these Regulations:

• The licensee shall acknowledge the receipt of the application form and register the applications immediately and shall process the application in the chronological order of its receipt.

• The distribution licensee shall maintain a separate Application Register for reference and records.

• On receipt of the application form for the feasibility certificate to connect the renewable energy system to the grid, the distribution licensee shall undertake technical feasibility within 15 days of the date of receipt of the application and intimate the applicant the feasibility or otherwise as the case may be.

• While intimating the feasibility for connecting the renewable energy system, the distribution licensee shall furnish to the applicant;
• the details of documents to be submitted by the applicant along with the scheme for installation of renewable energy system to the distribution system;
• the technical specifications as well as other particulars of the grid- tied inverter/equipment and manually operated isolating switch to be installed by the applicant;
• the technical specifications and other particulars of the Renewableenergy meter and Net meter.

Procedure for grant of connectivity to the renewable energy system.-

• The eligible consumer shall, within 30 days from the date of receipt of the intimation regarding feasibility and capacity of the RE system proposed to be connected to the distribution system, as  specified in sub Regulations 18(4) and 18(5) above, submit a formal application in the format specified in Annexure-B for the registration of his scheme for installing the renewable energy system, along with the documents and technical specifications as stipulated in Regulation 18(5).

• The distribution licensee shall, within seven working days from the date of receipt of the application, scrutinize the documents and intimate the following:
• The particulars of defects, if any, in the application along with the instructions to cure such defects.

• The fee for registration of the scheme for installation of the renewable energy system as specified in this Regulation.

• The distribution licensee shall, on receipt of the fee amount as per the sub Regulation (2) above and on curing the defects, if any, noticed in the application and the documents submitted under sub Regulation (1) above;
• Register the scheme and assign a Registration number with in seven days of receipt of completed application in all respect.
• The registration given under clause (i) above shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of registration, unless the validity period is extended by the distribution licensee under clause (iii) below.
• The distribution licensee may on application from an eligible consumer, for good and sufficient reasons beyond the control of the applicant, extend the validity of registration for a period not exceeding another six months, if no other application for connectivity is pending for want of the distribution transformer capacity or the feeder capacity, as the case may be.
• The distribution licensee may allot to other applicants, based on the date of their application seniority and in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations, such capacity for connectivity of renewable energy system, if the eligible consumer whose scheme has been registered does not avail the connectivity within the period of validity of registration. Provided that, the registration fee remitted in such cases   shall not be refundable.

• The distribution licensee may, on receipt of a written request from the eligible consumer before the expiry of the validity of his registration, allow him to withdraw his application, on satisfaction of the condition that he is not able to install the renewable energy system within the period of validity of the registration, due to reasons beyond his control. In such a case the distribution licensee shall refund eighty percent of the registration fee to the applicant.
• The registration fee shall be forfeited, if the applicant fails, to install the renewable energy system within the period of validity of his registration or to withdraw the application as per clause (v) above.
• The distribution licensee shall refund to the eligible consumer eighty percent of the registration fee collected by it, if the eligible consumer has installed the renewable energy system within the period of validity of the registration.

• The applicant shall, within the period of validity of registration, procure the renewable energy system conforming to the technical specifications and get it installed by a licensed Electrical Contractor.

• The eligible consumer shall obtain from the Electrical Inspector having jurisdiction over the area, necessary sanction for commissioning the renewable energy system, in accordance with the provisions of the Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Connectivity of Distributed Generation Resources) Regulations, 2013 and produce the sanction to the distribution licensee.

• The Electrical Inspector, shall undertake the inspection and safety checks, within 10 working days from the submission of the work completion report, and issue safety certificate.

• The distribution licensee shall, within seven days from the date of submission of approval of the Electrical Inspector, test the renewable energy system in accordance with the provisions of the Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Connectivity of Distributed Generation Resources) Regulations, 2013.

• On successful completion of the test as specified in sub Regulation (7) above, the distribution licensee and the eligible consumer shall execute a connection agreement in the format containing the general and specific conditions, as approved by the Commission, in accordance with the provisions of the Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Connectivity of the Distributed Generation Resources) Regulations, 2013.

• The licensee shall, within seven days from the date of execution of the agreement as specified in Sub Regulation (8) above, connect the renewable energy system to the distribution system.

Banking facility for prosumers.-

• In case the energy injected by the prosumer from his renewable energy system exceeds the energy consumed by him from the distribution licensee during the billing period, such excess energy is allowed to be banked with the distribution licensee and to be carried forward to the subsequent billing periods of the settlement period.

• The distribution licensee is permitted to account the energy generated from above such renewable energy system installed by the prosumer towards its RPO.

Net metering, Energy Accounting, Banking and Settlement.-

• The distribution licensee shall take the meter reading of the ‘renewable energy system’ regularly for each ‘billing period’ and record the readings of both the renewable energy meter and the net meter.

• For each billing period, the distribution licensee shall make the following information available in its bill to the prosumer:
• Time period wise (normal hours, peak hours and off-peak hours) Renewable energy generation recorded in the energy meter for the prosumer with connected load above 20 kW, and total generation from the RE system for the prosumers with connected load ‘of and below 20kW’.
• Time period wise electricity consumption of the prosumer with connected load above 20 kW, and total consumption in the case of the prosumer with connected less than 20 kW.
• Net billed electricity, if any, for which payment is to be made by the prosumer;
• Excess energy brought forward from the last billing period;
• Excess energy carried forward to the next billing period.

• The energy accounting, banking and settlement of energy generated, drawn and injected by a prosumer with connected load of and below 20 kW shall be done as below;

• The distribution licensee, during a billing period shall extend the facility to the prosumer having connected load of and below 20 kW under net metering arrangements, to draw back from the grid, the electricity injected during a time block at a different time period without any restriction.

• In case the electricity supplied by the distribution licensee during any billing period exceeds the electricity injected in to the grid by the prosumer from his renewable energy system, the distribution licensee shall raise a bill for the net electricity consumption at the prevailing tariff, after adjusting any excess electricity banked from the previous billing period;

• In case the electricity injected by the prosumer’s renewable energy system exceeds the electricity consumed from the distribution licensee during the billing period, such excess energy shall be allowed to be banked and be carried   forward to the next billing period as specified under Regulation 20(1) above.

• Accounting and settlement of energy generated, drawn and injected by the prosumer having connected load above 20 kW;
• The electricity injected from the renewable energy system in a time period during a billing period shall be first set off against the electricity consumed during the same time period.

• Any excess generation over consumption in that time period during the billing period shall thereafter be set-off against other time period, subject to the following.
  • 80% of the net energy injected in time periods other than peak hours, be allowed to adjust against peak hour consumption.
  • The net energy injected during peak hours shall be allowed to be adjusted 100% during the peak hour and the balance shall be allowed to be adjusted 120% during other time blocks.
  • At all other time periods, except energy injection during peak hours, 100% of the net energy injected in any time periods will be allowed to adjust against the consumption, during the time period other than peak hours.

• Any excess generation during a billing period, after adjusting against the consumption during the same billing period as per clause (i)&(ii) above shall be banked and carried forward, to the next billing period as specified under Regulation-20(1) above.

• Such surplus energy carried forward to the next billing period after accounting for the banking charges specified therein shall be, accounted along with the renewable energy generation during the subsequent billing period, and the same shall be settled against the energy drawn in the subsequent billing period as per the procedures specified under clause (i) & (ii) above.

• If the electricity injected into the system by the prosumer as measured in the net meter, is less than the total electricity drawn from the licensee, during any billing period, the licensee shall recover from such prosumer, the electricity charges at the rates

applicable as per the tariff order issued by the Commission, for the net quantum of electricity drawn by him from the distribution system, after taking into account any balance electricity banked in the previous billing period.

• The licensee shall pay to the prosumer for the net electricity balance in his account at the end of the settlement period, at the Average Power Purchase Cost (APPC) approved by the Commission; Provided that, in case of delay in payment of the net amount due to the prosumer beyond 30 days from the settlement date, the licensee shall pay interest to the prosumer at the FBIL rate +200 base points prevailing on 1^st April of the settlement year.

• The prosumer is exempted from the payment of transmission charges, wheeling charges, cross subsidy surcharges for the electricity generated and consumed at the same premises from the renewable energy system under net metering facility.

• The quantum of electricity generated from the renewable energy system of the prosumer, shall qualify for accounting towards the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) of the distribution licensee, as specified elsewhere in these Regulation.

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