NEW DELHI: The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has proposed a nationwide overhaul of electricity tariffs, recommending a sharp increase in fixed monthly charges paid by consumers as power distributors struggle to recover costs amid rising adoption of rooftop solar and industries migrating to captive power.The proposal could eventually mean consumers paying a larger portion of their bill as a mandatory monthly fee, regardless of actual energy consumption.In a report to be presented before the regulators’ Implementation Forum, the CEA said telcos recover a significant portion of their fixed costs through per-unit electricity charges rather than confirmed monthly payments, leaving their finances vulnerable whenever demand declines.While spending on transportation, salaries, grid maintenance and payments to power generators represents between 38% to 56% of the cost of power utilities, revenue from fixed fees contributes only 9% to 20%, the report said.Industries and wealthy households switching to rooftop solar, open-access projects and captive energy are sharply reducing their electricity purchases from diskettes but continue to rely on the grid for backup supplies, CEA noted.
The Commission recommended a “calibrated and phased approach” to the targeted recovery by gradually increasing fixed cost recovery from domestic and agricultural consumers to 25% and from industrial, commercial and institutional categories to 100% by 2030. It is possible to increase fixed cost recovery for the first categories.The report also proposed separate tariff structures for rooftop solar consumers and net metering.