What India Electricity Act 2003 - CERC Tariff Regulation, Open Access and Renewable Purchase Obligation requires
India's Electricity Act 2003 (EA 2003, Act 36 of 2003, in force June 2003) replaced the Electricity Act 1948, Electricity Supply Act 1948, and Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act 1998; it established the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) for interstate electricity regulation and tariff determination, and directed states to establish State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs); Section 42 mandates non-discriminatory open access to distribution networks for eligible consumers (threshold 1 MW for intra-state, phased to include 100 kW consumers by SERC order); the Act requires power trading licences (Section 12), Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) targets set by SERCs, and NLDC/RLDC/SLDC grid management oversight; tariff determination follows multi-year tariff regulations (CERC MYT Regulations 2019) with cost-plus and bid-based methodologies; penalties for electricity theft under Section 135 include rigorous imprisonment up to 3 years plus fine equal to the assessed amount; the EA 2003 Electricity Amendment Act 2022 and 2023 further reformed renewable integration and open access barriers.
Pillar: Energy & Utilities · Authority: Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC); Ministry of Power, Government of India · Version: 1.0.0 · Last updated:
Primary source: https://cercind.gov.in/
SHA-256 integrity: 7324e2af23a5f1e43846441b26eb32239ac516c1a355cbca6495ac995a8c0477
Primary Citations — 6 traced to source
- {"title":"Electricity Act 2003 (Act No. 36 of 2003) - Ministry of Power India","url":"https://cercind.gov.in/","section":"Section 9 (captive generating plant exemption); Section 12 (licence requirement for generation, transmission, distribution, trading); Section 42 (open access to distribution networks, cross subsidy surcharge); Section 61-64 (tariff determination principles and CERC/SERC jurisdiction); Sections 86(1)(e) (renewable purchase obligation); Sections 135-140 (electricity theft - rigorous imprisonment up to 3 years plus fine equal to assessed amount); Section 142 (contravention of CERC/SERC orders - fine up to INR 1 lakh/day)"}
- {"title":"CERC Multi-Year Tariff Regulations 2019 (Amendment 2023) - Central Electricity Regulatory Commission","url":"https://cercind.gov.in/","section":"Cost-plus tariff methodology; return on equity 15.5%; O and M expense norms; depreciation schedule; normative annual plant availability factor (NAPAF); multi-year tariff control period 5 years; renewable energy tariff determination framework"}
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